As noted in a blog post on Thursday, India intends to introduce its new intellectual property (and other) policies in January that are focused on the biotech industry. The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) is urging lawmakers not to implement new patent laws that would hinder the development of generic drugs.
A good portion of India's pharmaceutical industry to date has been focused on bringing generic versions of medication developed by foreign companies to India. For instance, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (particularly known for filing lawsuits regarding patents in order to bring a generic version to market) has its generic version of Celexa, and Cipla has several generic drugs, including AIDS-anti-retrovirals that made headlines when Cipladecided to provide it at barely above cost to Africa.
As other countries have successfully modified their intellectual property laws to be in line with TRIPs and have also allowed for the creation and protection of generic versions of drugs, I'm fairly confident that India will likewise find a compromise position. It may not completely satisfy the current Indian pharma companies and will likely impose a hurdle or 3 that they hadn't encountered before, but having an IP protection scheme that is closer to most Western countries will likely help the country see benefits in more Western countries being at ease with sharing technology with Indian companies and starting more subsidiaries in India, thus providing a boon to the Indian economy.
Comments