by Penny Nair Price
Multinational companies have been up in arms in the last few years about what they describe as India’s blatant disregard for their intellectual property rights, especially on life-saving medicines.
Many polluted cities in India cause citizens to experience respiratory problems. The Swiss multinational Novartis’s drug Onbrez (delivered through an inhaler) could help many of the estimated 15m sufferers . Only small quantities were available in India and now Cipla – a leading Mumbai-based based pharmaceutical company has begun making its own version of the product at a fraction of the original cost.
There is now a protracted legal battle over and its similarity to Onbrez. The fight over the patented drug reflects the kind of challenge which has turned India into a major source of aggravation for western innovative drug companies.
An IPR violator’s watchlist is in operation from the US, and a review of India’s intellectual property environment is under scrutiny through New Delhi, and India’s own ruling on patents.
However the World Trade Organisation’s agreement on trade-related aspectsof intellectual property rights (Trips) have flexibilities in place that allows an improvement of access to medicines for India’s citizens. Shamand Basheer, an intellectual property rights lawyer and founder of Spicy IP – a blog focused on intellectual property rights issues, said “It’s been 10 years since India was messing around with patents. Trips provides flexibilities for India go do exactly what it is doing”.
Concern about the cost of drugs is highly valid – nearly 70 per cent of Indian healthcare expenses are paid out of patients and their families’ pockets causing poverty in the event of an unexpected medical crisis.