The nine players who have barged into the Viagra market are Orchid Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Lab, Kopran, Ranbaxy, Cadila, Unichem Lab, Hetero Drugs and Torrent Pharma. ``Many other companies are also taking keen interest in the developments and they may enter the scene in the near future,'' said a member of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI).

``At least 20-40 players are expected to get into the Viagra market which is expected to generate Rs 1,000 crore business in the next threeyears,'' said Sangram Mohanty of Lupin Laboratories. Reason: Viagra has become a runaway hit with pharmacists filing 15,000 to 20,000 prescriptions per day in countries where this drug has been introduced.

Pfizer, the drug multinational which introduced Viagra in the world, has not shown any interest in registering the product in India. However, in India the drug is available in the black market -- smuggled in from overseas markets and people are queuing up to get the wonder drug due to the interest generated by a host of media reports. The Pfizer spokesman was not available for comments about the possible registration of Viagra in India.

Even though Viagra or any similar product is yet to be registered in India, Indian pharma companies have started looking at revenue from exports. The Drugs Controller-General of India has already cleared export licences for 39,262 kg and 5,000 tablets of sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient that goes into Viagra. While Cipla has been allowed to export 12 kg of thisingredient to Uruguay and Argentina and 5,000 tablets to Malaysia, Ranbaxy got the permission to export 150 kg to Switzerland, Orchid for the export of 39 kg to Switzerland, Spain and Hong Kong and Hetero Drugs for 100 kg to Switzerland and Uruguay.

Wall Street analysts have estimated Viagra's sales potential at $ 5 billion per year. If exports of sildenafil citrate are also included, the Viagra market is expected to double from the estimated level of Rs 1,000 crore in India. Sildenafil commands a price of $ 20,000 per kg in overseas markets.

In fact, Indian companies started developing this molecule even before Viagra was introduced by Pfizer earlier this year. Cipla had commenced development work on sildenafil in early 1997 as indicated in the company's annual report for the year ended March 1997. Both Cipla and Orchid had applied for sildenafil brand for the domestic market more or less at the same time.

``Such drugs will do well initially. It has been overrated... a hype is being created therebydrawing the attention of people. Soon the euphoria will be replaced by cautious use by doctors,'' said an OPPI source. However, he said Indian firms will be able to produce the drug at a cheaper rate. Pfizer is selling the product at $ 10 (around Rs 420) per tablet in the US.

Indian companies are yet to launch the product in India, but market studies by various companies have already commenced. Once clinical trials are over and the Drugs Controller approves licence -- after duly taking care of patent rights and WTO clauses -- the Indian Viagra market too will hot up. However, till then Indian companies are expected to concentrate on exports.