Legal battle looms over Polish 'Viagra'

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is taking legal steps against Poland’s largest drug maker for registering an erectile dysfunction drug with the same active ingredient as Pfizer’s Viagra, officials from both companies said tonight.

Polpharma registered its version, Maxigra, this year, company spokesman Krzysztof Jakubiak said.

He would not say when the impotence pills might be marketed.

Pfizer’s Polish branch, Pfizer Polska, said creating a generic version of the drug containing sildenafil, Viagra’s main ingredient, was illegal before the patent runs out.

“We have already taken legal steps against producers of Maxigra,” Pfizer Polska spokesman Adam Linka said.

“Viagra has been registered in the European Union, and for 10 years a cheaper generic cannot be introduced in the EU,” he said.

He refused to give details on the legal action.

Polpharma has been assured by experts that its actions are legal and that it is acting in good faith, Jakubiak said.

“Polish scientists used a new and different method for getting sildenafil,” he said.