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New Delhi: The government on Wednesday complained to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) that multinational pharmaceutical companies are campaigning against India’s generic drug industry, which accounts for 20% of the world’s total generics business. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said the campaign has broken the “cartel” in the generic drugs.
Speaking at a conference organised by his ministry in association with UN intellectual property rights body WIPO and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Sharma directed his complaints to WIPO director-general Francis Gurry. “We know how the campaign was there. They still continue to misinform, mislead and confuse when it comes to the Indian generics, which have brought a major change in the world,” he said.
The minister directed Gurry’s attention to the controversial seizures of 17 consignments of generic drugs which were confiscated on their way to Brazil and other African countries.by European Union (EU) custom authorities alleging they violated their IP rights. As many as 16 out of the 17 consignments were of Indian pharmaceutical companies that were patented both domestically and in destination countries but not in EU. “There was a time when a suffocating stranglehold of multinational drug cartels existed in the anti-retrovial drugs for HIV AIDS. It was the Indian pharmaceutical firms which have brought down the annual HIV AIDS treatment cost from $10,000 to $1,000,” lamented Sharma.
Africa and Latin America are major markets for India's low-cost drugs used for treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The two continents account for around 15% of India's total pharmaceutical exports of about Rs 40,000 crore.
Addressing the concerns of different nations, Gurry said all countries are diverse in their legal regimes and cultures and WIPO is confronting these challenges by adopting a “balanced” approach in its’ methodology. “Balance is essential in ensuring the diffusion of society in IP system,” he added.
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