[Ip-health] Protest against new Patents Bill ( New Delhi)

[lawyers]

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Protest against new Patents Bill
The Hindu, By Our Staff Reporter



NEW DELHI, DEC. 7. A people's meeting and protest march were held here toda=
y against the Patent Amendment Bill, expected to be tabled in Parliament by=
 the Government during the ongoing winter session. The meeting was organise=
d jointly by the Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign, the National =
Working Group on Patent Laws and the Research Foundation for Science, Techn=
ology and Ecology.

According to experts, the Patents Bill in its present form seriously compro=
mises on the "accessibility and availability of medicines,'' the two import=
ant components of the right to health.

Public interest groups working on health issues claimed that they were conc=
erned that India, through the Third Patent Amendment Bill, would trade away=
 its rights to protect the public health of people who need access to low-c=
ost and quality-generic medicines. They added that the introduction of a pr=
oduct patent regime would reduce accessibility to new drugs.

Till now India provided for only process patents in the case of medicines. =
In the case of a process patent, protection is only for the process and met=
hod of manufacture and not for the product. Therefore a process patent does=
 not prevent third parties from manufacturing the product through another p=
rocess. But in the case of product patents, only the patent owner or the ag=
ent authorised by him through a licence can produce the patented medicine.

Extended scope


"The Bill proposes to extend the scope of patentability to new use of known=
 medicines and to do away with pre-grant opposition procedure. What we are =
demanding is that the product patent should be given only to new chemical e=
ntities and not to new use and dosage forms. This will limit the number of =
patent-protected drugs. Also, pre-grant opposition is absolutely essential =
for blocking trivial patents as it gives an opportunity to interested parti=
es, including civil society, to be heard before granting a monopoly,'' clai=
med Anand Grover of the Affordable Medicine and Treatment Campaign.

Protesters also state that the Bill has not properly incorporated the Augus=
t 30 decision of the TRIPS General Council which permits the grant of compu=
lsory licences for export purpose to countries with no or insufficient manu=
facturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector.

More importantly, protesters claim, the people at large, as an affected par=
ty, have a right to be consulted and heard. Unfortunately, the Government v=
iews patents as a trade issue between Indian and foreign drug companies and=
 not as a health issue concerning the public."Since the product patent regi=
me will have serious and adverse ramifications for the public interest and =
security of the country, the Government should consult public interest grou=
ps and individuals on the ways and means to ensure accessibility and availa=
bility of medicines,'' claimed a protester.
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