Viagra Appeal Filed

On Monday as expected the 12  Chinese drug companies lodged an official appeal against the court judgement that gave the American drug manufacturer Pfizer the sole right to manufacture sildenafil citrate in its erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. This appeal is the final thing that the Chinese drug firms can do to try to recoup some of the money that they have poured into imitation Viagra drugs and millions of pounds hang in the balance.

The battle for the sole right to manufacture sildenafil citrate has been going on for years in China and started when China's State Intellectual Property Office originally ruled that Pzizer could not claim the patent on the sildenafil citrate. Pfizer retaliated and lodged a court case against the SIPO which culminated in victory for them earlier this month.

A new date for the hearing of the appeal from the 12 Chinese companies has not been set yet but will be soon. The appeal is being filed not by the SIPO but by the 12 Chinese companies and while they were hoping that the SIPO would appeal too they have decided to continue anyway. The 12 companies claim to have poured over 100 million yuan or 8 million pounds into making cheaper imitations of the Viagra pill and this money will have to be written off if Pfizer remain victorious in the courts.

The legal battle will have far reaching consequences as it is a real test of the legal strength of the Chinese courts and whether they are prepared to safeguard the intellectual property rights of foreign companies over the interests of Chinese companies. The money to be made in China from impotence drugs is endless and the Chinese anti impotence drugs are much cheaper than the Pzizer branded Viagra as they sell for about 50% less. In all it is reckoned that around eighty million men suffer from impotence in China.

A Pfizer spokesman said that China's commitment to having a real and effective patent protection situation rested on this case.