The $2m Romanian market for erectile dysfunction drugs has been the turf of a single company in the last few years. However, for the past several months, it has become a battlefield for three world giants in the pharmacy industry, each boasting sales of tens of billions of dollars every year.
After Eli Lilly's Cialis drug challenged Pfizer's single player position (with Viagra), British group GlaxoSmithKline officially entered the Romanian market for erectile dysfunction drugs at the end of last week. GSK launched Levitra, a drug which the company officials say it is better, and even cheaper in Romania than their main competitor's product - Viagra.
The fight between the three companies is getting more interesting, as every player boasts its product to be the best. "Our studies clearly show that Levitra is superior to the rival products, both from the point of view of the effects and the time they take to take effect. However, we decided to sell the product on the Romanian market at a price up to 20%-25% lower than the competing drugs'," Roberto Musneci, GSK Romania chief of operations, said.
According to Musneci, a 10mg Levitra pill will cost about 350,000 ROL.
"We know that Viagra and Levitra have the same price when they enter the country. Levitra is sold in pharmacies at a smaller price than Viagra, which is due to the company's commercial policies, which we will not comment upon," Regis Lhomme, Pfizer's country manager for Romania, replied. Lhomme mentioned that there was only one independent comparative survey in the world for Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, which was compiled by Gresser. "This survey shows Viagra to take the shortest time to take effect," Lhomme said.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
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