‘Obama visit will pressurize India to alter patent law to suit US interests’

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama’s visit has set alarms bells ringing among those working to improve access to medicines. The international medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has issued a statement expressing concern that the president’s visit will push for India to adopt intellectual property (IP) measures similar to the US and EU, which would ultimately result in unaffordable medicine prices for both India and the countries that rely on affordable medicines made in India.
The MSF statement pointed out that the Obama visit comes in the wake of a critical decision by India’s Patent Controller to deny a patent to the pharmaceutical company Gilead for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir—an example of how important India’s law is for encouraging price-lowering generic competition. Discontent is already being expressed and the patent rejection is likely to be brought up by US officials accompanying President Obama, it added.
According to the MSF statement, the Indian Commerce Minister in November set up a high-level ‘think tank’ to draft national IP policy, in response to US pressure, “First draft of the policy recently released is alarming. The draft emphasises patent monopolies as the key driver of innovation, when such claims have been refuted by numerous studies, and experts at the World Health Organization, which have found IP in fact to be a barrier to both access to affordable medicines, and innovation for medicines desperately needed by developing countries for diseases such as TB,” said the statement. .
Rohit Malpani, Director of Policy and Analysis of MSF’s Access Campaign pointed out that the think tank so far seems to be singing to Big Pharma’s tune of undermining global efforts to finally overhaul today’s system of how medicines are developed and priced.” The US is pushing India to play by its rules on intellectual property, which we know will lead to medicines being priced out of reach for millions of people, said Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of MSF’s Access Campaign.
MSF pointed out that the US pressure already appeared to be having an impact: the new Indian government has been delaying a decision to allow generic production of an exorbitantly-priced patented anti-cancer medicine that is unaffordable in the country—an action recommended by a Health Ministry expert committee to increase access to affordable versions.
Sofosbuvir, on which India rejected Gilead’s patent, is priced in the US at US$84,000 for a three-month treatment course ($1,000 per pill), although studies estimate its production for a three-month course could be as low as $101 (about $1 per pill). The UK’s National Health Service is delaying introduction of the drug because of its cost, and protests have erupted in Spain over the drug’s rationing as a result of its price.
“India’s decision to reject the patent for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir could unleash fierce competition among Indian companies to launch affordable versions of the lifesaving drug this year. Let the exorbitant prices being charged for this hepatitis C drug in many countries serve as a cautionary tale to India—this is what could happen here if the US succeeds and gets India to change its policies. India now faces a challenge. Future access to essential medicines for millions of people will depend on the new Indian government’s decisions and the kind of patent and innovation system it endorses,” said Leena Menghaney, South Asia Manager of MSF’s Access Campaign.