Companies battle counterfeit ED drugs in China
January 24, 2006

David Benner thought he had a hot tip for China's counterfeiting cops: the name, mobile-phone number and sales records of a man he suspected of express-mailing to Britain and other Western countries about fake Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs in boxes labeled as bath towels.

But Mr. Benner, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who now serves as Pfizer Inc.'s chief fighter of fakes in China, didn't hear back from authorities in the northern city of Tianjin. So Mr. Benner went on the trail himself, eventually contacting the man and placing orders for as many as 20,000 pills of phony Viagra and ED pills such as Cialis and Levitra.

The episode illustrates the challenges Pfizer and other multinationals face as they try to police a country that critics say isn't doing enough to police itself. Pfizer is fighting a rising tide of fake drugs that increasingly has China as its source. Counterfeit products are eating into its sales in China's growing consumer market, and lately they are finding their way into major markets such as the U.S.

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