Cancer patient held for buying overseas drugs

An undated photo shows drugs that Lu Yong has to take everyday. The yellow one is the Gleevec's Indian version.[Photo/infzm.com]

Lu, the 47-years-old owner of a textile foreign trade company in Wuxi, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in 2002. He had since then taken an anticancer drug "Gleevec", developed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

However, the patient should take a box of medicine that costs of 23,500 yuan ($3,793) every month. Lu almost went bankrupt due to the cost.

A favorable turn occurred in June, 2004, when Lu accidentally found Veenat, the Gleevec's Indian version, which claims to have a nearly identical efficacy and only costs 4,000 yuan if bought directly from India.

He shared the news with leukemia patient circles at social network platform QQ, which gradually attracted more than 1,000 patients who asked him to purchase the medicine for them because of language barrier and complicated overseas purchase procedures. The group-purchasing-price of Veenat fell over the years to 200 yuan a box, one hundredth the value of Gleevec, by Sep 2013.

When Lu was charged, more than 300 patients wrote a joint letter and petitioned legal authorities to exempt him from criminal punishment.

His case is under review and he has been out on bail since March, 2014.