IPA secretary general and Vision Consulting Group CEO DG Shah said that key issues to be addressed include the drug pricing policy, intellectual property rights (IPR), harmonisation of standards, testing and development of new drugs, making India a tax haven for intellectual property services, among others. IPA is keen that exports of intellectual property from India should be given a tax-free status. For instance, the association believes that royalty income earned from licensing deals should not be taxed.

Three IPA members --Ranbaxy Labs CEO and managing director DS Brar, Dr Reddy's Lab chairman Anji Reddy and Nicholas Piramal chairman Ajay Piramal figure on the prime minister's task force on pharmaceuticals and knowledge-based industries. IPA is expected to be ready with its paper within the next 10 days.

The IPA, which is working closely with Government on the policy front, will also seek to imbibe experiences of the generic pharmaceutical industry internationally. It will seek affiliations with International Generic Pharmaceutical Association located at Brussels, which represents the generic pharmaceutical industry of Europe, Canada and USA.

Significantly, the eight IPA members-- Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Lab, Lupin Labs, Nicholas Piramal, Wockhardt, Alembic Chemicals and Sun Pharma - account for 96 per cent of the domestic R&D expenditure of Rs 260 crore in 1998-99. The largest contributor to this R&D spend is Ranbaxy Laboratories with an outgo of Rs 102 crore.

IPA member companies (which account for a collective market capitalisation of around Rs 25,000 crore) also represent over 26 per cent of the domestic medicines market.