The court found that Apotex will not be able to sell a generic form of the patented product until 2014, as it would be an infringement of Pfizer's rights, reports Bloomberg.

However, spokesperson for Apotex Elie Betito has confirmed to the news source that the company will be appealing against the decision.

"We're definitely moving to the next level. Taking the case to Canada's federal court of appeal will be pursued in line with the company's goal of providing affordable medication to patients," he said.

This case once again brings to the fore the issue of generic treatments for ED. Betito has a valid point when he says that the availability of generics lowers the price of medicine to the consumer. A generic medicine is typically 20% to 80% less expensive than the brand-name original. In addition, the availability of lower-priced generic medicines brings down the price of originator drugs through market competition, producing even further savings to patients. Allowing effective competition between generic medicines and patent-expired original brands is crucial to lowering pharmaceutical costs and stimulating innovation.

However, this said, Pfizer still holds the exclusive rights to Viagra. It is not a patent expired brand and yet, as it stands there are many troubling issues surrounding generic Viagra due to the easy access to an abundance of illegal suppliers on the internet breaking the patent ownership.

As Pfizer fight to protect the patent on the famous ED treatment in the courts against legitimate suppliers such as Apotex, millions of small backyard operations are busily producing Viagra for sale on the web. These operations operate with low overhead and labour costs and are frequently based in developing countries. Most worryingly of all, generic Viagra is produced without any regulatory oversight.

While generic medicines should comply with the same strict standards of quality, safety and efficacy as original pharmaceutical products, this is often not the case. The lack of an independent monitory organization means that there is a high probability that the treatment will not work or could even prove detrimental to one's health.

As demonstrated by the case in Canada, Pfizer's patent is still exclusive, therefore any production of generic Viagra remains illegal.

This information has been brought to you by Firstmed.co.uk, a UK registered pharmacy specialising in the supply of genuine and branded ED treatments, including .

If you wish to discuss any of the above issues in more detail, do not hesitate to contact info@firstmed.co.uk or call +44 (0)870 199 5287

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