MORE THAN ONE DECADE OF VIAGRA: WHAT LESSONS CAN BE LEARNED FROM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION MARKET?

The general objective of this study is to investigate the erectile dysfunction pharmaceutical market over the past two decades (1990–2010) through patent data analysis. The study of the erectile dysfunction market allows the analysis of the technological trajectory of Viagra® in its several phases, since the launching of a radical innovation, going through the accommodation of incremental innovations and eventually the release of generic versions of that product. This is a descriptive, documentary, longitudinal research that analyses five research hypotheses. The results show how the erectile dysfunction market has developed over the years and the lessons that can be extracted regarding Intellectual Property Rights for countries, companies and governments, including political and social considerations about how much should a patent protect innovation.