Sales of China's first domestically-developed drug for treatment of erectile dysfunction are launched in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on Tuesday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Sales of China's first domestically-developed drug for treatment of erectile dysfunction were launched in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on Tuesday.

The aildenafil citrate tablets, or called Ailishi in Chinese, developed by the Beijing-based Youcare Pharmaceutical Group, will be mainly sold on online medical and healthcare platforms, according to the company.

The anti-ED drugs previously sold in China were mainly foreign ones and domestically imitated, said Yu Weishi, chairman of Youcare.

The company signed cooperation agreements with a number of leading online healthcare platforms, including Ali Health of e-commerce giant Alibaba, to promote the drug on Tuesday.

"We will also promote sales of the drug on traditional OTC chain stores, third-party terminals and hospitals," said Yu.

According to the Securities Daily, the market value for treatment of erectile dysfunction in China is worth more than 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion), given that more than 62.1 percent of males over 40 years old in the country suffer from the problem.

"We will take advantage of online platforms to sell the drugs to male customers," said Xie Fangmin, CEO of Jianke, one of China's leading business-to-consumer pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms.