On Thursday, Shanghai police announced that 20 suspects have been nabbed for allegedly producing and selling fake Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra pills.
The police said the fake pills contained tadalafil as an active ingredient, a prescription drug used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). Tadalafil has not been approved for use in China.
In November 2019, the police started their investigation when they found that the fake ED pills were delivered in parcels.
The police said, “A man surnamed Chen based in Shanghai who was in charge of the deliveries was first identified, along with locations in other provinces where the fake pills were produced.”
During the investigation, the police found three people who were heading the gang, which started to produce and sell the fake pills since August 2019 without approval from the companies that own the brands.
According to the police, the fake ED pills were sold online to different parts of China, as well as to other nations.
The cost of the fake Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra pills was significantly lower than the branded ones.
The 20 suspects were nabbed and rounded up in recent police action in Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Henan provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Shanghai. The police seized nearly 220,000 fake pills worth roughly $3 million.
The drug companies that manufacture the branded once addressed a letter of thanks to the police after solving the case, praising the Chinese government and police for standing their ground against the infringement of intellectual property rights.
Shanghai police have solved more than 390 such cases where intellectual property rights were infringed this year. The total amount of counterfeit products sold against the brand counterparts surpassed 2.3 billion yuan.
