• Bloomberg, Thursday, July 8, 2010 10:42 AM

Pfizer is now using the same tactics to battle knock-off pharmaceuticals that governments have been deploying in their wars against cocaine traffickers, gun runners and money launderers: pursuing civil lawsuits and asset seizures, Simeon Bennett reports. Make no mistake that the stakes are high. An Interpol officer estimates that $1,000 spent making heroin can earn a return of $20,000 while the same investment in copied medicines can earn as much as $450,000.

One case involves a Viagra counterfeiter in the U.K. who has amassed ill-gotten gains such as a farmhouse near Manchester, a £2.5 million flat in Chelsea, a villa in Spain, a Bentley Arnage, two Range Rovers, and two watches worth about £100,000 each.

"The point is to make them realize that there's no sense from a business perspective in counterfeiting our products, because if we find you, we're taking your money away," says John P. Clark, who capped a 28-year career in governmental police work as the top civil servant for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been leading Pfizer's efforts since 2008.

Since 2007, Pfizer has spent $3.3 million on investigations and legal fees and recovered about $5.1 million; it expects to collect an additional $5.3 million from ongoing cases.

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