The Jiangsu High People's Court announced its verdict online on Tuesday in a case involving the purchase and sale of generic anti-cancer drugs from India. It changed the trial court's finding of the crime of selling fake drugs to the crime of illegal business operation.

Of the 15 defendants, 14 received reduced sentences and one was acquitted. The sentence of Lin Yongxiang, the primary defendant in the first trial, who had received the heaviest punishment, was reduced to five years from six and a half years, according to two defense lawyers who were quoted by thepaper.cn.

Prosecutors alleged that between the end of 2013 and the second half of 2014, the 15 defendants had purchased a trove of anti-cancer drugs made in India without import approval and then sold them at a profit, with sales ranging from 50,000 yuan ($7,023) to 5.9 million yuan.

In August 2018, the Lianyungang Intermediate People's Court delivered the first judgment in the case, sentencing 11 defendants, including Lin, to prison terms for selling fake drugs. Another was given a suspended sentence and three were exempted from criminal punishment.

After the first trial, seven of the 15 defendants appealed. In May last year, the case was tried for a second time by the Jiangsu High People's Court.

The case turned a corner with the revision of the country's law on pharmaceuticals, which came into effect in December. It stipulates that a person who imports a small amount of drugs that have been legally marketed abroad and whose circumstances are relatively minor may receive a lower sentence or be exempted from punishment altogether.

After the appeals court's verdict, defense lawyers for several of the defendants said they will apply for state compensation as allowed by law.