CHINA LEX PHARMA LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2 , No. 6- February 14, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Chinese Pharma Industry Faces New Internal Threat
- Domestic Firms Join Forces to Fight Counterfeiting
- Pharmaceutical Enterprises Report Positive Returns
- China Struggles to Meet Medical Plastic Demand
Chinese Pharma Industry Faces New Internal Threat
Pharmaceutical enterprises in China may be facing a slough of intellectual property lawsuits after WTO accession later this year.
According to recent research reports, nearly 97% of all western pharmaceutical products made in China are copied by domestic Chinese companies. Most of these medicines are protected under foreign patent laws.
This spells bad news for the Chinese pharmaceutical industry: more than 4000 pharmaceutical producers survive by copying foreign medicines. Most of these companies have a sales volume of less than USD6.02 million. No major medicines in China hold patent rights abroad: it costs five to six million US dollars to purchase exclusive rights for one patented medicine.
Upon China's expected accession to the WTO later this year, there will be a grace period during which the country can stave off patent dispute claims. It is estimated that by that time, the copied medicine industry will be worth between USD400 million and USD1 billion.
China's pharmaceutical sector has grown on average six to seven percent in the past few years.
International pharmaceutical producers have been eyeing China's 1.2 billion consumers, and several have already tapped the market. Nineteen out of twenty of the world's top pharmaceutical enterprises have entered the Chinese market, investing USD5.5 billion to date.
(Source: South China Morning Post)
Domestic Firms Join Forces to Fight Counterfeiting
In a move against pharmaceutical counterfeiting, eighteen of China's domestic pharmaceutical firms joined forces last month in Beijing to discuss strategies for countering the manufacture of fake medicines.
Chinese pharmaceutical firms have spent an estimated USD12 million annually in the fight against fake drugs and have struggled to ensure their own legal rights.
Reports of counterfeit versions of Viagra's anti-impotence drug in Shanghai have prompted harsh government crackdowns on counterfeit production, including closer monitoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution networks.
(Source: ChinaOnline)
Pharmaceutical Enterprises Report Positive Returns
China's industrial and commercial pharmaceutical enterprises reported positive returns in the first three quarters of 2000, with the sales income of industrial enterprises reaching an estimated USD15 billion by September of last year.
This marks a 20.4 per cent increase from the same period in 1999, while the sales income of commercial enterprises rose 19.6 percent from the year-earlier period to more than USD10 billion.
Drug imports and exports reached USD4.661 billion in the same period. The figures, produced by Chinese customs, show an export value almost USD1 billion more than the import value. Imports of medical apparatus, traditional Chinese medicine and Western drugs increased, however, widening the gap between imports and exports in these areas.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
China Struggles to Meet Medical Plastic Demand
Despite high production figures, China is lagging in the production of plastic medical products, with its imports of such products on the increase.
Although production last year was at 100,000 tons, China still cannot meet the domestic demand for plastic medical products, including plastic human organs.
The application of medical plastics has been studied for over thirty years, but the country has yet to increase its own production of the parts enough to meet the booming demand.
Recent years have seen an increase in the use of plastics in medical areas. An increase in research and development of plastic medical products, as well as an acceleration in the development of products such as plastic human organs and disposable medical instruments may well help China keep up.
(Source: ChinaOnline)
Lehman Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Notaries, Patent, Copyright and Trademark Agents
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.
