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Year
2007
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Patent Denied
Erectile dysfunction is big business in China
BY MATTHEW FORNEY | BEIJING
Monday, Jul. 12, 2004
In China, where supplies of the traditional cure
for erectile dysfunction—tiger penis—have shriveled,
men in search of an extra boost have been snapping up doses of knockoff
Viagra. Although they're illegal, the fakes are so widespread that
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says it's having a difficult
time selling the real thing. Last week Pfizer's job grew even tougher.
China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) overturned the
company's patent rights to Viagra, potentially opening the Chinese
market to a flood of cheap, locally made generic rivals.
Details of the decision have not been released, but SIPO says Pfizer's
patent was rescinded on the grounds that its description
of the drug was insufficient to meet the standards of Chinese
law. The company claims it's being penalized for not fulfilling
requirements that didn't even exist when its patent was approved
in 2001, and U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Richard Mills says
he will raise the issue with the Chinese government. Pat Powers,
Beijing-based director of China operations for the U.S.-China Business
Council, says SIPO's decision "sends a negative signal to foreign
companies looking to defend their property rights." Still,
it's not clear whether China's patent office did anything wrong.
Other countries have thrown out Viagra patents for various reasons,
and intellectual-property lawyers say that until more details come
to light it's impossible to tell whether SIPO had legitimate cause
or succumbed to pressure from local drug makers, as critics such
as Powers contend. Pfizer says the patent will stay in effect while
it appeals, but Chinese companies are already clamoring to make
their own versions of the drug. Says Lu Xinyu, marketing manager
of Guangzhou drug company Beautiful Pearl Group, "I can't imagine
how vicious the competition will be."
source :-http://www.time.com | 
