China Permits Duplication of Life-saving Drugs at Lower Price

By Albert Chen

According to the report of South China Morning Post, the latest revised Measures for the Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation (the “Measures”), which has come into effect from 1st May of 2012, China government may sign the compulsory license to the manufacture of the cheap copy of the patent drugs when in the urgency or exceptional conditions of the state, or for the public interests.

Also in the report, it points out that the action by China government is an alert to the world pharmacy industry when China is a prominent part to the global medicine market; especially currently we see a decline in the western countries. Meanwhile, the news also says, for the past decades, many Chinese medicine makers have been manufacturing the important drug ingredient exported to foreign counterparts, who however would afterwards sell the patent medicine made with the aforesaid ingredients to China at a high price which is hardly affordable to Chinese patients. Now China has been focused on its wrestling with foreign drug makers, especially as known, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will no longer grant donation of AIDs prevention to China from 2013.

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Interpretation on New Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation Rule

China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) issued its No. 64 order on 15th March, 2012 to announce the promulgation of the newly revised Measures for the Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation (the “Measures”). The most attention catching point is the amendment of medicine patent compulsory licensing. Then, what are the specific provisions? And is there any amendment else deserve you focus? Today, we will make a brief introduction for you. (the image is the picture of Tamiflu once applied for compulsory licensing in China)

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