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Indian firm indicted in US over fake Viagra trade

Seven people and five companies, including an Indian firm, were indicted on Friday and charged with manufacturing and selling bogus Viagra tablets over the Internet, New York prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Girish Vishwanath, director of exports for Benzo Chemical Industries in Mumbai, is among those charged with manufacturing and selling bogus Viagra pills over Internet.

The investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the result of a 17-month undercover operation, found all of the fake tablets came from China and India.

During the undercover operation, investigators bought 28,000 bogus Viagra pills that ranged in cost from 51 cents to $6 a pill.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the phony pills contained the active ingredient of Viagra, but chemical analysis indicated they were not identical in content to the real anti-impotence product.

Asked if the bogus Viagra worked, he said, "It's hard to tell."

Most of the pills were shipped in stuffed teddy bears or inside stereo speakers, the prosecutor said.

The suppliers told undercover agents they could import more than 2.5 million tablets on a regular monthly basis, he said.

The investigation began in January 2001 after Pfizer Corp, which makes Viagra and holds the trademark and patent on sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient, filed a complaint with the district attorney's office.

The wholesale cost of a real Viagra tablet is about $7, and it retails for about $10 a pill. The real tablets are blue and diamond-shaped, with "Pfizer" written on one side and the prescription strength on the other.

Among those indicted was Winhway Lee, general manager of Tianjin Shuaike Chemical Co., a manufacturer and exporter of pharmaceutical products in Tianjin, China.

His company, which also was indicted, allegedly was the main supplier of counterfeit Viagra sold by two of the accused drug brokers, Jane Ye and Raymond Chan of H K Dorilia Holdings Ltd in Lantau Island, Hong Kong, the prosecutor said. That company was indicted as well.

Also indicted were Berrin Isbell, owner of B.I. Import/Export Brokers in Las Vegas and his companies.

Lee, Isbell and Vishwanath were in custody, while Ye and Chan were fugitives, the prosecutor said.

Other defendants are David Rayner, his company Rayner Enterprise of Denver, Colorado, and an unidentified person in Hangzhou, China, who is a fugitive.

The charges included trademark counterfeiting, criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, possession of forged instruments, forgery and conspiracy. If convicted of the top count of trademark counterfeiting, the defendants face up to 15 years in prison.

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