[Ip-health] Shipments seizure: India's drug makers may avoid EU route

[Riaz K Tayob]

Shipments seizure: India's drug makers may avoid EU route
Problematic definitions of counterfeit drugs may be leading to
misinterpretation of patent laws
Lison Joseph

Chennai: An Indian drug shipment bound for Venezuela makes a pit stop at
a Dutch port. Local customs sieze the consignment on charges of
counterfeiting and patents infringement.

A trade promotion agency in India cries foul, saying the drugs are
perfectly legal in the market they were meant for=97Latin America in this
case.

The European Commission is non-committal, citing ongoing litigation in
national courts.

A patents lawyer points to problematic definitions of counterfeit drugs
that could lead to misinterpretation of intellectual property rights
violations.

Infringement? Workers at Dr Reddy's manufacturing plant in Andhra
Pradesh. In a bid to avoid shipments being seized, drug makers are
looking at alternatives such as storage facilities in non-European
countries.

In a bid to avoid shipments being seized, drug makers are looking at
alternatives such as storage facilities in non-European countries. Amit
Bhargava / Bloomberg

Such instances are on the rise as countries and businesses start
fighting turf wars over intellectual property rights and use local laws
and international guidelines to their advantage.

A new battleground seems to have opened up over shipments of India's
drug exporters meant for Latin America that are being seized in transit
by European Union (EU) countries.

In the last one month alone, Chandigarh-based Ind-Swift Laboratories Ltd
and several other Mumbai-based bulk drug makers=97all of them small- and
medium-sized firms=97have had their shipments seized at EU ports,
according to the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil),
an agency set up by India's commerce ministry.

"In the last couple of months, we have been receiving an increasing
number of reports from pharma exporters about their consignments being
seized in European Union countries including Germany, France, the UK and
the Netherlands," said Pharmexcil executive director P.V. Appaji.

Cost implications

This would force exporters to look at alternative routes to send the
medicines, which is likely to impact the cost competitiveness of Indian
generic drugs, said Ind-Swift vice-chairman N.R. Munjal.

Munjal and Pharmexcil said the reason EU authorities have given for the
seizures was that these drug consignments violated intellectual property
rights and were, therefore, counterfeit. Pharmexcil, on its part, says
the seized products=97meant for largely unregulated Latin American
markets=97are genuine and legal.

"These are not substandard or in anyway of compromised quality. Besides,
they are not meant for the European market but are just using EU ports
while in transit to markets in Latin America, where they do not violate
any laws," Appaji claimed.

According to Pharmexcil, companies whose consignments ran into similar
trouble include JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Medico Remedies
Pvt. Ltd, Titan Pharma India Pvt. Ltd, and Mission Pharmaceuticals Ltd,
all based in Mumbai, and Hyderabad-based Sainor Pharma Pvt. Ltd.

http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/12000018/Shipments-seizure-India8217.html