CHINA LEX PHARMA LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 29 - December 21, 2000
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Official Symbol Required for Nutritional Supplements Advertisements
- Taiwan Formosa Keen on Mainland Medical Business
- Pfizer Loses Case Against Chinese Cybersquatter
- Increased Monitoring Ahead for Drug Research Institutions
- Pharmaceutical Sites Face Government Crackdown
Official Symbol Required for Nutritional Supplements Advertisements
Nutritional Supplements will be required to display an official symbol in all of their advertisements, according to a new government regulation. China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Health, jointly issued the new regulation in an effort to make nutritional supplement products more identifiable to consumers.
The official blue symbol consists of the Chinese characters for “nutritional supplement”: bao jian shi pin, and must take up no less that 1/36th of the product’s advertising space in print media. In billboard, television and movie ads, the symbol must appear regularly, while on the radio, language that identifies the product as a nutritional supplement must be used.
The regulation further stipulates that nutritional products should not have medical terms in their advertisements, or terms that might associate the product with a drug or disease treatment.
Source: China Information News
Taiwan Formosa Keen on Mainland Medical Business
Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group will invest US $45.35 million to build three hospitals in mainland China. The hospitals, planned for Beijing, Xiamen and Fuzhou, will add 11,000 beds to the hospital system.
Upon completion of the hospitals, Formosa intends to implement the management model currently in place in Taipei’s Changgen Hospital. The completion date is set for late 2002.
Formosa Plastics Group also has plans to build hospitals in Chongqing, Wuhan, Dalian and Guangzhou.
Source: ChinaOnline
Pfizer Loses Case Against Chinese Cybersquatter
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has lost its piracy case against a Chinese company. Pfizer, the producer of “Viagra,” filed a lawsuit against Shenzhen Wanyong Information Network Company earlier this month for illegally using the “Viagra” brand name as part of a website address. Shenzhen Wanyong had registered the website www.viagra.com.cn.
The Number Two Beijing Municipal Intermediate People’s Court threw out the case, ruling that although Pfizer had registered the brand in China in 1997, the website was registered before “Viagra” was permitted into the Chinese market. In addition, Shenzhen Wanyong discontinued use of the site when Pfizer objected to it. The website is not on public display, eliminating the conflict between the two companies.
The court also found that most Chinese know the product by its Chinese name, “Weige”: public awareness of the name “Viagra” is mainly through the media, insufficient publicity for the English name to be considered “well-known”.
Pfizer has registered “Viagra” in more than one hundred countries worldwide since 1995. The Chinese government approved the drug for use in April 2000.
Source: AFX News - Asia
Increased Monitoring Ahead for Drug Research Institutions
Drug research institutions in China will be subject to increased scrutiny by the country’s State Drug Administration (SDA).
Earlier this month, the SDA announced that drug research institutions will be required to register with provincial authorities before they can be considered for production of drugs to be used in clinical tests. Registration must be completed by March 2001.
Source: ChinaOnline
Pharmaceutical Sites Face Government Crackdown
China’s State Drug Administration is cracking down on pharmaceutical websites with the goal of eventually regulating online pharmaceutical sales and information.
The presence of unauthorized online drugstores continues to damage the reputation of legally operating pharmaceutical websites. In some cases, websites are claiming prominence in the online pharmaceutical market when in fact the company consists of nothing more than a domain name and rented equipment.
The SDA plans to investigate existing pharmaceutical websites, particularly those engaging in online sales of medicine and information.
Online pharmaceutical sales present unique challenges worldwide: numerous countries have placed bans on the practice, fearing misinformation to consumers and the sale of illegal or dangerous drugs.
Source: ChinaOnline
Lehman Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Notaries, Patent, Copyright and Trademark Agents
(formerly known as the L&A Law Firm)
Suite 188, Beijing International Club
21 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Beijing 100020 China
Tel.: (86)(10) 6532-3861
Fax: (86)(10) 6532-3877
mail@chinalaw.cc
http://www.chinalaw.cc/
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The China Lex Pharma Law Newsletter is intended to be used for news purposes only. It should not be taken as comprehensive legal advice, and Lehman, Lee & Xu will not be held responsible for any such reliance on its contents.
