IDMA president Dinesh Patel told reporters here that with the introduction of product patent after the expiry of the transition period in 2005, prices of medicines including life saving drugs would skyrocket with the multinational companies enjoying a monopoly. "This will subject the common man in the country to a lot of hardship," he said.

Dwelling on the recommendations of the association regarding the introduction of product patents as per the GATT agreement, the president of IDMA, which has about 1,000 members, said developing countries like India should have the right to provide for automatic grant of non-voluntary licences in sectors of critical importance like food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

VedaRaman, author of the Indian Patent Act, 1970 which is now sought to be amended to accommodate the demands of the new patent regime under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said the provision of automatic licence of right in the Act should be retained and made applicable to Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR).

Patel said IDMA members together met about 85 per cent of the country's demand for bulk drugs and about 60 per cent of formulations. Patel stressed that EMR applications should be subject to a detailed scrutiny by the patent office for novelty. Criticising the system of `mail boxes' to receive EMR applications, he said the word `product' for the box should be defined as a new chemical entity. He also demanded that mail box applications for EMR be restricted to post-January 1995 inventions.

The IDMA president demanded that there should be no uniform standard for patent duration. "The developing countries should be free to set the duration at a level significantly lower than that of the industrialisedcountries in accordance with their own technological and public interest needs.