On December 11, Kenneth Roberson woke up at 5 a.m., unable to sleep because of the daunting task ahead of him. He had to get about 250,000 tablets of sildenafil, the generic name for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, from his warehouse to 5,000 pharmacies across the U.S. by the next morning. That morning, two drug giants began racing to cash in now that the blockbuster drug had lost its patent protection. Pfizer Inc. delivered Viagra to the world back in 1998. Meanwhile, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is the world’s largest maker of copycat drugs. By law, Teva has 180 days before other drugmakers can jump into the game too. Pfizer has its own generic brand, and wants to keep a share of the market. Can they both make as much as possible before time runs out?
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