Baiyunshan 'firm favorite' in ED market

The first official approval for a domestic drug company to make generic erectile dysfunction medicine known as sildenafil citrate is expected to shake up a market that has been dominated by foreign manufacturers.

The United States-based Pfizer Inc's patent for the medicine, known under the brand name Viagra, expired in China in May.

Shanghai-listed Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings Co said on Tuesday that it had received approval from the China Food and Drug Administration to make sildenafil citrate-based active pharmaceutical ingredients and tablets.