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Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has lost the sole right to manufacture Viagra in Brazil after judges decided the market for the drug should be opened up.
The country’s Supreme Federal Court voted 5-1 in favour of overturning an earlier lower court ruling that gave the firm exclusivity until June 2011.
The decision, which paves the way for a raft of generic versions of the erectile dysfunction treatment, was made after Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property said the patent should be allowed to expire on June 20.
Pfizer, which may yet appeal the ruling, argued it had been given a 10-year patent by the European Commission in June 1991.
Around 7.1 million doses of the blue pill, which works by increasing blood flow, have been sold in the country since 2007.
Viagra is one of the most popular drugs in the world.
Copyright Press Association 2010
Pfizer
