Abstract: The global pharma patent system to which India now subscribes denies the poor access to healthcare and curtails their right to life.
The third world pharmaceutical industry has been chastised for making copycat drugs and condemned for engaging in so-called piracy. What is overlooked is that this industry had made affordable drugs available to the nations of the South, home to 6 billion people, most of whom are poor and battling a crippling disease burden with little or no help from their governments.
But now, with the amendment in the Indian Patent Act (in effect from January 1, 2005) in compliance with WTO patent laws and TRIPs (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) our ability to perform this social function will be reduced dramatically. We will no longer be able to produce and export cheap generic copies of patented medicines. Besides, since it takes at least ten years to bring a drug a to market from the time of filling the patent, all new drugs are going to be under monopoly and thus beyond the reach of most Indians, as well as the poor in other parts of the world. And the supply of affordable new medicines will dry up in due course. |
