Multinational pharmaceutical companies in China are calling on the government to take tougher measures to protect drug intellectual property rights (IPR) while pushing forward the domestic innovation of new drugs and attracting more foreign direct investment.

"The Chinese Government has been actively working with pharmaceutical companies to fight against counterfeits. And the progress in protecting the IPR of new drugs in the past years has been great," said Peter Scheuer, executive director of China's research and development (R&D)-based Pharmaceutical Association.

According to a recent report from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations, China is the most suitable country to take part in global drug innovation among all developing countries due to the support from its government, its IPR protection and its industry's infrastructure.

Since 1993 in China, applications by groups for IPR protection have maintained double-digit growth. And the public is gaining an improving awareness about IPR.

Pharmaceutical companies have received 20-year patent terms for their new drugs and six-years of data exclusivity after China became a World Trade Organization member.

The association also said, in the future, it will discuss with the government about prolonging the drugs patent-term as many new drugs get approvals in China two or three years later than in other countries.

Despite the government's arduous efforts to fight counterfeit drugs, China still has quite a long way to go to protect drug IPR.

"More strong measures should be taken to punish counterfeiters, which aims to build the confidence in drug R&D," said Scheuer.

The association estimates that about 8 percent of over the counter drugs sold in China are counterfeit.

"To develop a new drug is a highly risky and expensive project, so it's essential to protect the new drug's IPR. Generally, it takes about 12 to 15 years to develop a new drug with a total investment up to US$20.2 million," said Feng Danlong, director of Corporate Affairs at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a famous US-based drugs maker.

China has about 6,800 pharmaceutical companies but most are small and inefficient. They cannot invest large sums of money in new drugs.

"Because of the great potential of the market and the optimistic future of IPR in China, we are pushing our headquarters to set up an R&D center here," said James Liu, president of Beijing Novartis Pharma Ltd under Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

(China Daily September 3, 2003)