Pharmaceutical products are critical to the social, economic, and political stability of societies around the world. No other business sector is more dependent on consumer confidence. Like food products, drugs are highly vulnerable to deliberate and/or accidental disruption. A small tablet has almost no intrinsic value on its own; its value derives from the pedigree of its manufacturer and the belief that the pill will change someone’s life for the better. Manufacturers hold a sacred trust (given them by their…
Intellectual Property
Opening the Door to the Chinese Pharmaceutical Market
Virtually all aspects of the Chinese economy are booming, not the least of which is its pharmaceutical sector. Growing at 20% over the past five years, the $15 billion Chinese pharmaceutical market is predicted to become the world’s fifth largest by 2010 (1), making China an attractive place to do business for multinational pharmaceutical companies (MPCs). Rising living standards and improvements in China’s regulatory and technology infrastructure are the key drivers for this continued growth. Although all segments of the…
IP Strategies to Combat Distribution of Counterfeit Drugs
Counterfeit products are no longer restricted to Gucci purses and Rolex watches. The pharmaceutical business has seen an alarming rise in the number of counterfeit products entering traditional distribution and supply chains. As a result, consumers can unknowingly purchase counterfeit pharmaceuticals from their local pharmacy and receive little or no therapeutic benefit, or worse, die as a result of ingesting counterfeit products. Pharmaceuticals are subject to counterfeiting in a number of ways. A counterfeit product may contain no active ingredient…