Industry Slams Taiwan Over Alleged Drug Copying

International pharmaceutical manufacturers are focusing on a case ofindustrial espionage involving Bristol-Myers Squibb and a Taiwanese company to express their anger over what they allege is the failure of the authorities in Taipei to deal with drug copying by a growing number of local companies.

The multinationals are alleging that more than 200 manufacturers in Taiwan are copying major drug products and using their influence to delay the release of new products.

James Hsu, technical director of Yuen Foong Paper, and company consultant Chester Ho have been released on bail of $1 million on charges of stealing industrial secrets from B-MS. They are accused of attempting to steal the copyright for the company's anticancer treatment Taxol (paclitaxel). Yuen Foong claims the case is based on trumped-up charges as a warning to Taiwan companies, and is said to mark the latest phase of a war between local and foreign drugmakers.