Pirating of drugs 'a joke' that must be stamped out
Beijing has to end rampant rip-offs of patented medical technology on the mainland and make the rehabilitation of the medical-care system its most important public welfare undertaking, according to NPC and CPPCC delegates.
Yu Baofa , a National People's Congress deputy from Shandong who patented a therapy for treating cancerous tumours in the US, said many drug makers had sought extortionate profits by illegally reproducing overseas drugs and ramping up the retail price of low-cost traditional Chinese medications by rebranding them. In some cases the 'new drugs' sold for 10 times the price of the original generic product.
'Nowadays, even doctors can't recognise the names of many repackaged drugs because their generic names have been replaced with commercial names.'
Dr Yu said the international medical community was shocked to learn the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issued 168,740 permits for new drugs between 1998 and last year. 'It's an international medical joke. It's impossible for China to invent more than 16,000 new drugs in one year.
'Even in the US, only several dozen new drugs are approved each year. And everybody knows that China's medical technology is still backward.'
Dr Yu, who spent nearly six years registering his cancer therapy on the mainland, said Beijing had a very strict and comprehensive system to assess medical innovations, but the process had been abused by officials such as Zheng Xiaoyu , the former SFDA director who was sacked in June 2005 over claims that he took bribes and helped his relatives and subordinates sell drug permits.
'Under Zheng's protection, many medical enterprises got permits in a very short time due to 'special ties' with medical officials,' he said. 'And such 'special ties' mean consumers have to pay 50 per cent more for new drugs.'
Dr Yu, who set up a private rural cancer hospital in Yantai's Pingdong county, said the blame for medical corruption and the high cost of treatment lay with Beijing's failure to encourage private organisations to play a part in the health system, which was monopolised by public hospitals.
Prominent medical expert and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate Zhong Nanshan also urged key public hospitals with advanced equipment to train medical staff for rural and private hospitals.
'We should rectify our old ideas and see the medical system as the most important public welfare undertaking,' Dr Zhong said, stressing authorities needed to raise pay for medical staff across the board to deter them from running businesses on the side.
Anhui CPPCC delegate Xu Geliang also urged the central government to encourage city public hospitals to train medical staff for small rural hospitals to improve the care given to farmers.
