Viagra puts Pfizer in the regulatory glare

Pfizer Inc, the United States-based pharmaceutical company, has been fined 100,000 yuan ($15,570) by Shanghai's market supervision authorities for paying four drugstore chains to recommend its market-leading erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra.

Pfizer signed two agreements with China National Medicines Corporation Ltd in 2004 to exclusively distribute and sell Viagra, according to a statement by authorities.

Between 2011 and 2013, Pfizer had signed agreements with the four drugstore chains to have them display the drug in Shanghai to boost sales.