Developing nations seek affordable access to essential, life-saving drugs

S Venkitachalam

New Delhi, Aug 24: THE Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) Council is scheduled to meet in Geneva next month to consider the demand of developing nations that they be allowed to adopt measures to provide affordable access to essential medicines and life-saving drugs.

The meeting is in accordance with the four reviews mandated under the Trips agreement.

The Third World countries also want the WTO to ensure that the Trips agreement does not undermine their right in formulating their own public health policies.

As part of redressing the Uruguay Round implementation concerns, India, along with other like-minded group of countries, had earlier submitted proposal to the WTO that the list of exceptions to patentability under the Trips agreement should include the list of essential drugs of the World Health Organisation as well. However, no decision has been taken yet on this proposal.

Under the mandated reviews, New Delhi wants a higher level of protection as provided for wines and spirits to be extended to other geographical indications such as Alphonso mango, Darjeeling tea, basmati rice etc.

Further, the negotiations for establishing a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits should invariably proceed in parallel with the grant of higher level of protection to other products.

India also suggests that patents in all life forms be excluded and if this is not possible, to exclude patents based on traditional/ indigenous knowledge and essentially derived products and processes from such knowledge.

In regard to micro-organisms and non-biological and microbiological processes, New Delhi holds that it should be left to national policy to decide what are patentable micro-organisms.

The existing Indian Patents Act, including its amendments, provides for only process patents for pharmaceutical products and medicines in the country.

However, the obligation to provide product patents for pharmaceutical products and medicines by India under Trips will come into effect only from January 1, 2005.

The Trips agreement does not have any specific provision for directly regulating the prices of AIDS medicines, though it provides for issue of compulsory licences under certain circumstances.

Currently, the prices of AIDS medicines in India are generally lower than those prevailing in other countries.

The government, however, has been monitoring the prices and if required appropriate measures can be taken under the Patents Act and the Drugs (Pries Control) Order, 1995.

The commerce and industry ministry coordinates with the department of chemicals and ministry of health and family welfare in this regard on a regular basis.