hankyoreh

A group of multinational drug makers has filed patent-infringement lawsuits against Korean pharmaceutical companies in an apparent bid to keep the prices of their drug products at current levels.

The U.S. drug maker Pfizer is suing nine local pharmaceutical firms, claiming they violated its patents related to the production of its Detrusitol SR, an incontinence treatment medicine. The lawsuit came after the South Korean firms produced a similar drug based on elements used in the Pfizer medicine and applied for pricing of their drug with the South Korean Health Insurance Review Agency, which means that those drugs will soon be put on sale in the Korean market.

"As far as we know, Pfizer filed a suit in mid-April; we only recently received the documents," said a spokesman of Boryung, one of the drug makers involved in the legal action. "Pfizer does not have the patents that it claims to possess and its allegation that we violated its drug formula patents is groundless. We believe we can win the suit without much trouble."

In response, Pfizer Korea admitted it does not have patents in the Korean market for elements used in making its incontinence treatment medicine. Lee Eun-jung, an official of Pfizer Korea, said, "We possess a patent regarding how to help the medicine’s elements be abosrbed at a certain pace. The suit is about that patent."

If Pfizer loses the suit, local pharmaceutical companies will be allowed to produce the generic medicines in question, which will thus result in a 20 percent fall in its incontinence treatment medicine prices, in line with the Korean government’s efforts to offer drugs at prices deemed appropriate under Korea’s nationalized health insurance system.

Multinational drug makers are seeking legal actions in other areas, as well, such as dementia and blood pressure-related medicines. Japanese drug maker Eisai brought a suit against Dong Wha Pharm [sic] and other firms, alleging that they infringed upon its patents related to the production of dementia treatment medicine Aricept.

The legal action also came after the South Korean company applied for pricing for its generic blood pressure treatment drug with the Health Insurance Review Agency.

Pfizer is also in another legal battle with Ahn-gook Pharm [sic]. Pfizer claims that the South Korean drug maker violated its patents by copying Pfizer’s popular hypertension treatment medicine Norvasc. Ahn-gook countered that its drug product shows better treatment impact than Pfizer’s, which it claims has failed to get approval for related patents in the U.S.

Such a series of patent-infringement lawsuits by multinational pharmaceutical companies comes amid mounting suspicion that these firms are attempting to neutralize government’s drug price optimization drive. Per this effort, if local companies are allowed to produce generic drugs, original products treating the same ailment would face a 20 percent cut in their product prices.

Patent attorney Nam Hui-seop says that the number of such lawsuits will likely soar in the near future as South Korea and the United States on April 2 reached a free trade agreement, under which the government’s pricing and approval procedure for the sale of generic drugs would be temporarily suspended for the duration of any patent lawsuit brought against a domestic drug maker.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]