As already happened in other eight Countries in Europe, also in Italy, patent protection for Viagra will expire on June (even if there has been a bit of controversy on this date) and several generics manufacturing companies are ready to enter in a market of about seventy-three million of Euros.
Today in the whole World, every six seconds, a blue-pill is assumed and statistics tell us that, since its launch in 1998 to 2011, two billion and a half of pills had been sold (about six tablets per second). In Italy, in ten years, sixty million tablets were purchased: 4,300 per thousand men over the age of forty. Therefore Italy is the second European Country for consumption, after UK, with over sixty million tablets sold in ten years. At a regional level, Lazio topped the chart with more than 7.5 million of pills consumed in ten years and an average of 6,112 pills every thousand men. Tuscany and Emilia Romagna follow at short distance with, respectively, an average of 6,004 and 5,886 tablets consumed every thousand men over the age of forty. (Italy IMS Health data for 2010). The average age of consumers in Italy is 50-55 years.
Patent expiration means that also in Italy Sildenafil will have lower price with respect to its originator drug but, according to rumors, the difference in term of price will not be such marked as it can be expected. We talk about a saving of about nine euros, while in other Countries were patent was already expired, the difference in term of price between Viagra and its generics is much more competitive.