China: Six tried for allegedly pirating drug Tamiflu

A Shanghai court has put on trial six people accused of making an unlicensed version of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu, newspapers and the court announced today.

Lead defendant Wang Xun is accused of illegally purchasing the Tamiflu formula for 150,000 yuan (about €15,000) and then joining with others to manufacture and sell a pirated version of the drug, Shanghai’s Youth Daily and other newspapers said.

Shanghai’s No. 2 Intermediate Court confirmed the trial began on Thursday, but gave no other details.

Police uncovered the scam through advertisements the group placed on the internet, the reports said.

In May 2006, they arrested 10 people, including Wang, and confiscated more than 2,600 capsules of the bogus drug in raids on two workshops, the reports said.

Pharmacists who purchased the drug told police they had doubts about its origin, but bought it anyway because it was much cheaper than the genuine product produced by Swiss pharmaceutical maker Roche Holding AG and its licensees.

The case is typical of the wide-scale violation of intellectual property rights across almost all industries in China, as well as deep problems with medical integrity in the country’s troubled health system.

In another case involving a high-profile drug, Viagra maker Pfizer Inc recently appealed a Chinese court ruling that lets a rival use one of the Chinese-language names for its popular anti-impotence drug.

In an apparent attempt to prevent such abuses, China’s Health Ministry last year declared itself the sole purchaser and repository for Tamiflu, while Roche turned over all existing stocks and licensed production in China to drug maker Shanghai Pharmaceutical. The policy means that individual hospitals and pharmacies have no right to purchase and stock the drug.

The reports did not say from whom Wang had purchased the formula.

A secretary at Roche’s Shanghai office said no spokesman was available for comment and a spokesman for Shanghai Pharmaceutical said the company had only learned about the trial from the media and had no comment. Neither gave their names.