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Eli Lilly to
release impotence pill in China
BEIJING - US pharmaceutical firm Eli
Lilly and Co will continue to enlarge its
investment in mainland China, according to a
senior company official, as the firm prepares to
release an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug in the
next two months.
Eli Lilly will be the
third foreign company approved to sell a so-called
"magic pill" in China. US-based Pfizer introduced
its blockbuster Viagra in 2000, followed by
Bayer's Levira last year. Foreign companies have
scrambled to carve out a niche in the huge market
for anti-impotence drugs. Official statistics show
more than half of men aged over 40 in China are
afflicted with some degree of ED; male impotence
is the predictable result of the country's
sky-high smoking rate, as well as the poor diet
and lack of exercise of many Chinese males, and
the severe air pollution in the country.
Lechleiter, a medical scientist in the
company's lab before moving into management, said
the recent approval by the Chinese authorities of
its anti-impotence drug Cialis is "very
significant" for the company as it aims to
increase its presence in China. It also further
boosts the company's rising role in the
pharmaceuticals market in Asia as a whole.
The
executives of Eli Lilly distinguish their
orange pill from the drugs produced by their competitors
by touting its length of effectiveness.
An ED sufferer does not have to rush
into sexual activity immediately after swallowing
the medicine, but can engage in "romance"
any time within 36 hours after taking the
drug.
China provides many opportunities for
the company to grow, since the country will become
one of the world's largest markets within the
next five or 10 years, John C Lechleiter, executive
vice president of Eli Lilly, stated in
Beijing over the weekend. "We see China as very
strategically important for our company," said
Lechleiter.
Eli Lilly has a
research centre in Shanghai and a
pharmaceutical-manufacturing plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province,
which employs 700 people. Cialis, the company's ED
drug, is one of the nine products Eli Lilly plans
to introduce to the Chinese market in the next
five years. The products target a wide spectrum of
conditions, including ED, cancer, mental
disorders, and diabetes.
But Lilly executives are
concerned that rampant imitation and counterfeit
in China's pharmaceuticals sector may seriously
damage their business interests. Market observers estimate that
more than half of all Viagra pills available
on the Chinese market are
counterfeit. Yet Chinese intellectual-property-rights authorities have revoked
Pfizer's patent for Viagra in China, claiming the
company breached China's intellectual-property laws. But
Pfizer is appealing against the decision.
Lechleiter and his colleagues visited
Shanghai and Beijing last week to meet business
partners and officials from the Ministry of Health
and the State Food and Drug Administration.
Intellectual property rights protection is a major
point about which the company wants to seek
assurances from government officials. "We are very
pleased with the response from the Chinese
officials. But we both recognize that continuous
progress needs to be made," said Lechleiter.
Without sufficient intellectual property
rights protection, Eli Lilly's business is exposed
to huge risks, because it costs the company US$1
billion to develop a new drug. Although tremendous
progress has been made in policy and
implementation of regulations in the last decade,
there are situations when the protection of
intellectual property rights is undermined, said
Lechleiter. The company has to "periodically" turn
to the government for remedy support, he added.
But the firm's executives are confident of
the success of Cialis in China. The medicine has
already grabbed much of the market share for
anti-ED medications in other Asian countries and
regions, including South Korea and Taiwan.
Eli Lilly's revenue skyrocketed to $525
million in 2004 from $203 million after Cialis
was introduced to the US market last year.
(Asia Pulse/XIC) |
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