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2007 |
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Pfizer Appeals China's Decision to Overturn Patent on Viagra
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer
Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, appealed China's revocation
of its Viagra patent in a case
that may test the nation's commitment to stronger protection for
intellectual property rights.
The appeal of the July decision by China's State Intellectual Property Office was filed with the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court today, Wang Xunbiao, public relations manager in Beijing for the New York-based company, said in a telephone interview.
Global pharmaceutical companies are finding it hard to protect patents in China's $10 billion market, where pirates sometimes reproduce drugs and sell them for lower prices. Pfizer's decision to fight for its patent on the world's best- selling impotence drug follows a decision by GlaxoSmithKline Plc last month to abandon its fight to protect a patent in China for its top diabetes drug, Avandia.
``If the Chinese government is going to play hardball, there will be some who are hesitant to invest in China,'' Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management Co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has less than $25 million under management including Pfizer shares, said in a Sept. 24 telephone interview.
Pfizer also said today that it has won approval from the Chinese government to expand the sale of Viagra to pharmacies from hospitals. Prescription authority was extended to include all registered physicians in specialty areas, including urology and gerontology, according to a company statement.
Limited Sales
Viagra generated $1.88 billion in sales for Pfizer last year, with $776 million coming from outside the U.S. Sales in China were limited because only hospitals could sell the drug.
Pfizer shares fell 0.1 percent to $29.62 Monday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 16 percent this year.
The Chinese State Intellectual Property Office withdrew Pfizer's patent on Viagra in July following a challenge by an alliance of domestic generic drugmakers. The patent, granted in September 2001, was to expire in 2014.
Restoring the Viagra patent ``would be a step in the right direction not only for Pfizer but for all U.S. drug companies investing money, time and people power in China,'' Dollarhide said.
Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co. and other global drugmakers account for as much as 20 percent of medicines sold in China, said Joseph Damond, associate vice president of the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, the drug industry's largest trade group.
Pfizer's cholesterol drug Lipitor, the world's best- selling medicine, is also among the drugs available in China.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is reconsidering one of two Viagra patents owned by Pfizer after the agency said there was a ``substantial new question'' about whether it should have been issued. The agency in November began considering whether the patent covers anything new in a process that could take years.
source :-http://quote.bloomberg.com | 
