Pfizer Starts R&D in China After IPR in China Challenges

Photo Danny Friedmann
Perilous hills, but nice view.
Climb worth the risk?

As one of the first U.S. companies pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has decided to start doing R&D in China. This way the company can probably take advantage of indigenous innovation preferential rules if it invents and patents in China. Read here.

Pfizer had some IP challenges in China. To brush up your memory, here is a summary of how Pfizer bot back its Viagra patent:

• September 19, 2001 SIPO granted a patent for Viagra's active ingredient;
• A dozen Chinese pharmaceutical companies file a petition to invalidate the patent, alledging that it failed adequate disclosure under article 26 Patent Law (at the time Patent Law 2000) and lacked novelty as required by article 22 Patent Law (at the time Patent Law 2000);
• July 7, 2004 Patent Reexamination Board invalidated Pfizer's Viagra patent because it failed to meet the disclosure requirement;
• September 28, 2004, Pfizer appealed the Patent Reexamination Board's decision at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court;
• June 2006 Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court reversed the invalidation and remanded the case to SIPO for further determinations;
• The Chinese pharmaceutical companies appealed to the Beijing High People's Court;
• September 7, 2007 Beijing High People's Court upheld the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.