Tuesday, October 09, 2012

PATENT RIGHTS: UNFAIR POLICIES

Patents are ‘intellectual property rights’, not ‘muscle-based’ or ‘First-World based’...

Even Dr. Mira Shiva, Initiative for Health, Equity & Society, Third World Network (TWN), justifies the same as she snaps, “Many developed countries are vying for the market of cheaper Indian drugs which are generic equivalents. For instance the cost of anti-retroviral drugs has been brought down from $15,000 to $350 per year. The setting up of US FDA offices in Delhi & Mumbai is part of the same effort to curb competition and the recent action against Reddy’s Lab seems to be on the same lines.” Well, on hearing the Dr. Reddy’s incident, even we thought along similar lines, Dr. Shiva! History too stands proof to the same effect as the United States had forced India to sign the Super 301 agreement under the US Trade and Omnibus Act after the Uruguay round of talks. Moreover, as per experts, even though a patent’s life span in India was no more than 5-7 years and basically covered only the ‘process’, mounting pressure from Bretton woods institutions (IMF, WB) and WTO was intense. A patent life span was increased to 20 years, and was then altered to a ‘product’ patent format, making it almost impossible for Indian companies to initiate cheaper generic alternatives.

The Indian generic industry earns about $13 billion in annual revenues, out of which about $7.2 billion comes from exports; US and Europe being the biggest export destinations. An August 2008 report by RNCOS titled, Booming Pharma Sector in India, also forecasts Indian pharmaceutical exports to grow at a tremendous CAGR of 18.5% between 2008-12; and the multi-billion dollar worth of patent expirations in the global generic drugs market is supposed to fuel this growth. It therefore becomes only more imperative for the Ministry of Commerce not to ignore the ‘unacceptable attitude’ towards Indian drug companies. India is also about ‘intellectual and highly researched patents’ and not just about ‘low-cost contract manufacturing’; the world needs to realise this! And as far as patents are concerned, we probably need to teach legal teachers in the developed nations what IPR means. Should we?!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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