[Ip-health] WSJ: Chinese Drug Makers Appeal Ruling on Pfizer's Viagra

[Amy Nunn]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Chinese Drug Makers Appeal Ruling on Pfizer's Viagra

By NICHOLAS ZAMISKA
June 19, 2006



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115071693718083992.html?mod=health_home_stor
ies

HONG KONG -- An alliance of 13 Chinese drug companies hoping to make a
generic version of Pfizer
<http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=pfe>  Inc.'s Viagra
appealed Monday a ruling that defended the New York company's patent on the
drug, according to a lawyer for the Chinese companies, extending an already
protracted court battle seen by many as a litmus test of China's commitment
to protecting intellectual property.

Earlier this month, a Beijing court overturned the 2004 decision of the
country's patent re-examination board to invalidate Pfizer's patent on
Viagra, siding with the Chinese drug firms.

That initial ruling to strike down the Viagra patent stoked fears at Pfizer
and other foreign companies that the case could signal a further erosion of
intellectual-property protection in a country brimming with counterfeits of
everything from compact discs to entire cars. Viagra, the blockbuster
impotence drug, had sales of about $1.6 billion world-wide last year.

"Many foreign companies are paying a lot of attention to this case" because
"they want to make a decision if they will enlarge their investment in China
or not," says Tai Hong, a patent attorney at the Hong Kong law firm China
Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. and Pfizer's main lawyer on the case.

Wang Wei, a Beijing lawyer representing the Chinese drug companies, said he
filed an appeal with a Beijing court Monday afternoon after executives of
the companies, over the weekend, finalized their decision to challenge the
ruling.

But Pfizer's victory has put the Chinese companies on the defensive and
raised the bar substantially in their bid to manufacture a generic version
of Viagra.

It could be months before another hearing, although Pfizer's patent has
remained and will remain in effect until the appeal process is finished.

Pfizer hasn't been informed that an appeal has been or will be filed,
according to Christopher Costigan, a company spokesman. A person close to
the company said that Pfizer plans on fighting any appeal.



--