How Indian Generic Medicines are Sold in China 印度仿制药品如何在中国销售的

An Indian tells his story of selling generic drugs from India through WeChat. 

Cheap generic drugs from India are attracting lower income Chinese patients. Photo: IC

来自印度的低价仿制药正在吸引低收入的中国顾客。照片：IC

While the e-business model based on social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo is booming in China, an Indian man named Dheeraj (pseudonym) also joined the large community of WeChat business owners selling some of his nation's most famous products, generic drugs. 

虽然基于微信，微博等社交媒体平台的电子商务模式在中国蓬勃发展，但印度人Dheeraj（化名）也加入了微信企业主的大型社区，销售他的一些最着名的产品 - 仿制药。

"I have almost all the cancer medicine stock in China. These are all Chinese oncology doctor prescribed medicines I offer; I do not sell medicine without a prescription," Dheeraj said. "My customers in China include Chinese and foreigners."

Dheeraj说：“我几乎拥有中国所有的抗癌药物，这些都是我提供的中国肿瘤医生处方药，我没有没有处方药就不卖药。 “我在中国的客户包括中国人和其他外国人。”

According to Dheeraj, he studied in China to become a doctor and has now returned to India to work. He has a pharmacy in India and a medicine business in China with the help of his Chinese friend, a respiratory doctor in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. 

根据Dheeraj的说法，他在中国学习成为一名医生，现在已经回到印度工作。他在中国的朋友，河南省郑州市的一名呼吸科医生的帮助下，在印度开了一家药房，在中国也开了一家医药公司。

India has always been dubbed as the "world's pharmacy," mainly because of its generic drugs - a pharmaceutical drug that is equivalent to a brand-name product in dosage, strength, route of administration, quality, performance and intended use, but does not carry the brand name. The Indian government has granted compulsory licenses for expensive drugs so Indian manufacturers can produce these drugs without fear of being prosecuted under patent law.

印度一直被称为“世界药房”，主要是因为其非专利药物 - 一种相当于剂量，强度，给药途径，质量，性能和预期用途的名牌产品的药物，但没有携带品牌名称。印度政府已经为昂贵的药物颁发了强制许可证，所以印度制造商可以生产这些药物，而不用担心被专利法起诉。

According to a Bloomberg report, India's branded drugs and other medical products' overseas sales volume is $11.6 billion, while the country's overseas sales volume of generic drugs reached $16.4 billion in 2016, which is higher than the sales for brand-name drugs. 

据彭博社报道，印度品牌药物及其他医疗产品的海外销售额为116亿美元，2016年海外仿制药销售额达164亿美元，高于名牌药物的销售额。

India's generic drugs have been attracting patients from around the world for their low costs. In China, the generic drugs are attracting a growing number of low income sick Chinese patients to travel to India for the drugs, or turn to purchasing them through an agent like Dheeraj. 

印度的仿制药吸引了来自世界各地的患者，其成本低廉。在中国，仿制药正在吸引越来越多的低收入病态的中国病人前往印度买药，或者转而通过像Dheeraj这样的代理商购买。

"There are many people selling generic drugs from Indian in China through WeChat, and most of the sellers are Chinese. However, most of the drugs the Chinese are selling are fake," Dheeraj said. "There are some Indians that also sell generic drugs in China, and most of them are students in China."

Dheeraj说：“有很多人通过微信向中国的印度销售仿制药，大部分卖家都是中国人，但是大多数中国人卖的药都是假的。 “有一些印度人也在中国销售仿制药，其中大部分留学中国的学生。

Indian WeChat business owner

印度微信的业主

"I have 2,193 contacts on my WeChat in China, and nearly all of them are my customers," Dheeraj said while showing a screenshot of his WeChat friends list. 

“我在中国的微信上有2,193个联系人，几乎所有人都是我的客户。”Dheeraj在显示他的微信朋友列表的截图时说。

Then he sent over another screenshot showing that there are dozens of people who have requested to add his WeChat, but he has not had time to add them yet. "There are so many clients still waiting now," he said. 

然后他又发了一个截图，显示有几十个人要求添加他的微信，但他还没有时间添加他们的微信。他说：“现在还有很多客户正在等待。

When questioned about whether he is truly from India, Dheeraj said, "I am an Indian, and my name is Dheeraj. You can call me through WeChat if you don't believe me." Then, he sent over two videos of his pharmacy in India and his Indian employees. 

当被问到他是否真的来自印度时，Dheeraj说：“我是印度人，我叫Dheeraj，如果你不相信我，你可以通过微信打电话给我。然后，他把他在印度的药房和他的印度雇员的两个视频。

From the screenshots he sent to the reporter, we can also see the telecommunications operator is jio, a 4G network in India, which was further proof that he is from India. 

从他给记者的截图中，我们也可以看到电信运营商是印度的4G网络jio，这进一步证明了他来自印度。

To find out more, the reporter from Metropolitan pretended to be a buyer who wanted to purchase medicine called Glivec, which is used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumor. 

为了了解更多信息，Metropolitan的记者假装是买了一种叫Glivec的药品，用来治疗慢性粒细胞白血病和胃肠道间质瘤。

The original Glivec produced by Swedish pharmaceutical company Novartis costs 23,500 yuan ($3,400) per box in China, which is only a month's dosage, according to a report by the Global Times in January 2015.

根据环球时报2015年1月的一份报告，瑞典制药公司诺华制药公司生产的格列卫原产于中国，价格为23,500元人民币（3,400美元），仅为一个月的用量。

However, the equivalent drugs made by the Indian company NATCO only cost around 1,000 yuan per box. The price can even be lowered to 200 yuan per box if purchased in bulk directly from the manufactures, according to the same Global Times report. 

然而，印度公司NATCO生产的相当药物每箱只需要1000元左右。据“环球时报”报道，如果直接从制造商那里直接购买，价格甚至可以降到每箱200元。

"Most Chinese people prefer Glivec produced by NATCO; I sell it at 2,700 yuan per box," Dheeraj said. "We have storage in China, and you can get the medicine in three days by Shunfeng express courier," he said. 

Dheeraj说：“大多数中国人更喜欢NATCO生产的格列卫，每箱售价2700元。他说：“我们在中国有仓储，顺丰快递可以在三天内得到药品。”

When questioned about why his drugs are so expensive when other sellers only ask for 1,000 yuan for the drug, Dheeraj argues that there are so many "fake" Indian drugs on the market, and he does not do that.

当被问到为什么他的药物如此昂贵时，其他卖家只要求1000元的药物，Dheeraj认为，市场上有这么多的“假”印度药物，他不会这样做。

"I don't sell fake or cheap products," Dheeraj said. "I am a doctor, not only a seller, and even doctors buy from me because they know the exact cost."

Dheeraj说：“我不卖假货或便宜的产品。 “我是一名医生，不仅是卖家，甚至连医生都从我这里购买，因为他们知道确切的成本。”

Then he sent over a screenshot showing him doing business with an Indian doctor, and it seems that this doctor is currently in China, since Dheeraj is using the Shunfeng express service to deliver the Indian doctor his drugs, and the sender's information is filed out in Chinese. 

然后他发了一张截图，显示他和一位印度医生做生意，看来这个医生目前在中国，因为Dheeraj使用顺风快递服务向印度医生交付他的药物，发件人的信息被提交中文。

"Don't bargain for medicine. It's cancer medicine; please don't buy cheap medicine that kills people," Dheeraj said. 

Dheeraj说：“不要为药物讨价还价，这是癌症药物，请不要购买会害死人的廉价药品。

The Indian WeChat business owner told a gruesome story to prevent the reporter from bargaining. According to Dheeraj, there was a Chinese girl who contacted him for another kind of medicine. 

印度微信公司老板告诉一个可怕的故事，以防止记者讨价还价。据Dheeraj说，有一个中国女孩与他联系另一种药物。

"Before she bought the medicine from me, she bought cheaper medicine from another local Chinese seller. The patient's blood pressure increased and her nose started to bleed after she took that medicine," Dheeraj said. 

Dheeraj说：“在她从我那里买药之前，她从另一个当地的中国卖家那里买了便宜的药品，患者的血压升高了，吃了药后鼻子开始流血了。

Then Dheeraj sent over a couple of screenshots of the WeChat conversation to prove the story was true. 

然后Dheeraj发送了一些微信对话的截图，以证明这个故事是真实的。

In the screenshots, the Chinese buyer called Sophie told Dheeraj that after the patient (her friend's mom) took the medicine bought from Dheeraj, all of the previous symptoms were gone, she can eat and sleep well and her aches from her condition also eased. 

在截图中，中国买家索菲告诉德拉吉，病人（她的朋友的妈妈）服用了从德莱拉买来的药后，以前的所有症状都没有了，她可以吃好睡，她的病情也得到了缓解。

"The medicine works like magic; I trust you so much," the buyer told Dheeraj. 

买方告诉Dheeraj：“这种药很神奇，我非常信任你。

To further prove his trustworthiness, Dheeraj also sent over his Chinese partner's WeChat account, the so-called Chinese doctor. 

为了进一步证明他的信任，Dheeraj还把他的中国伙伴的微信账号，即所谓的中国医生

The Chinese doctor wrote in Chinese that they import the drugs from India in bulk, so the price is lower. 

中国医生用中文写道，他们从印度大量进口药物，价格较低。

Breaking the law

触犯法律

Agents that channel Chinese patients and generic Indian drugs have long existed before Indians like Dheeraj.

引导中国患者和普通印度药物的药物早在印度人喜欢Dheeraj之前就已经存在了。

According to a report by news portal qq.com in December 2014, the business of buying and selling generic drugs from Indian has become an enormous underground market. Some Chinese purchasing agents provide the purchasing invoice to prove the authenticity of the drugs and some local Indians have also started to act as purchasing agents to mail the drugs from India to China directly. 

根据2014年12月新闻门户网站qq.com的报道，从印度购买和销售仿制药的业务已经成为一个巨大的地下市场。一些中国采购代理商提供采购发票来证明药物的真实性，一些当地印度人也开始作为采购代理，将药物从印度直接邮寄到中国。

However, the choice of being a purchasing agent became more dangerous since generic drugs are illegal in China because they are not officially approved. According to the country's drug administration laws, such drugs are regarded as counterfeit and selling those drugs is illegal. 

然而，由于仿制药在中国是非法的，因为它们没有得到官方的批准，所以选购药物变得更加危险。根据国家的药品管理法，这类药品被视为假药，销售药品是非法的。

In September 2013, two Chinese couples were arrested in Guangdong Province. They were charged with the crime of selling "fake drugs" which referred to the drugs they had brought back from India that were labeled "fake" because the drugs had not been licensed by Chinese authorities.

2013年9月，两名中国夫妇在广东省被捕。他们被控销售“假药”罪名，涉及到他们从印度带回的毒品，因为这些毒品没有得到中国当局的许可，所以被贴上“假”的标签

On October 9, 2013, the Fangshan district court in Beijing sentenced a Chinese man to eight months behind bars and a penalty of 2,000 yuan, for buying drugs from India to make profit. 

2013年10月9日，北京房山区法院判处一名中国男子8个月徒刑，并处2000元罚款，从印度购买毒品获利。

The most well-known case of all is when Lu Yong, a leukemia patient, was arrested and charged in January 2015 for selling fake drugs to over 1,000 patients like himself. The patients he sold drugs to petitioned the court to release him. 

最为人所知的一个案例是，白血病病人陆勇在2015年1月被捕，并指控向自己的1000多名病人销售假药。他卖毒品的病人请求法庭释放他。

"I know it's illegal to sell generic drugs in China. I wish we didn't have to do this, but some patients do need the drugs. If I was not available, many patients would have to travel to India to get the drugs," Dheeraj said. 

“我知道在中国销售仿制药是非法的，我希望我们不必这样做，但是有些病人确实需要这些药物，如果我没有，那么很多病人就不得不前往印度去买药， “Dheeraj说。

"I hope China and other countries will allow generic drugs soon. I also hope there won't be so many fake generic drugs on the market. Nobody should ever play with patients' life when they are already sick."

“我希望中国和其他国家很快就能够仿制仿制药，我也希望市场上仿制的仿制药不会那么多，病人生病时谁也不能玩。

This Article is sourced from Global Times

本文来源于“环球时报”

Translation: INCN印中和·

Source Link: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1082963.shtml

---

ADVERTISEMENT

---

• Editor's Picks

www.IndiansinChina.com

---

Please Scan & Add Official Wechat id of Indians in China to connect with other fellow Indians living in China thru wechat groups. (HaveSpecial Groups for Female only, Business Group, Cultural Exchange , Foodies,Yoga Group, Helping Madad Group, Indian Students Group, FMGE, Dental Students, Mandarin Learning, Music & Medical Assistance / Advice from Indian Doctors )