BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) can now buy Viagra, a popular anti-impotence drug,in about 2,000 drugstores in major Chinese cities.

    Viagra, produced by US-based medicine giant Pfizer Inc., began selling in Chinese retail drugstores Monday, reported the China News Service, quoting a document jointly released by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the State Food and Drug Administration.

    Previously, the drug was only available in China at hospitals through outpatient service.

    On Sept. 27, the first day Viagra was sold in retail drugstoresin Beijing, some stores held sales promotions. According to the document, however, a prescription from a doctor is still required to purchase the drug.

    Currently, Viagra is the only anti-impotence drug that Chinese medical departments have allowed to enter the country's retail market, said Guo Yinglu, an expert on urology with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

    Viagra entered China in July of 2000. In the past four years, the country has conducted more than 2,000 large-scale clinical tests on the drug, and 1.5 million prescriptions for it has been issued by doctors.

    This means that, on average, over 300,000 ED patients in China have used the drug each year, said Guo.

    Zhu Jichuan, professor of andriatry with China Medical Association, said the opening-up of selling channels would help more ED patients to re-discover sexual life.

    "It also helps to change Chinese people's opinions about sex. In China, people felt shy talking about sex before, but now they pay more attention to sexual health," said Zhu.

    Viagra sells in 183 countries and regions worldwide. The numberof users has reached 23 million, and its total sales in 2003 were 1.8 billion US dollars. Enditem