[Ip-health] India takes drug seizure issue to WTO council

[Sangeeta]

India takes drug seizure issue to WTO council

JOE C MATHEW New Delhi, 3 NovemberThe seizure of another consignment of
Indian generic drugs, in transit, has pushed India to drag the issue to the
TRIPS Council, a high-level body of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
dealing with intellectual property issues. Last month, French customs
authorities seized 740,000 tablets of heart attack prevention medicine
Clopidogrel that were shipped by Mumbai-based Macleods Pharma to Venezuela
on complaints of alleged patent violation. Sanofi Aventis, the European dru=
g
maker that enjoys the patent rights over the drug, complained that the
consignment violated its patent rights.India informed the TRIPS council
meeting in Geneva last week that widespread and repeated seizures would hav=
e
an adverse impact on legitimate trade of generic medicines, universal acces=
s
to medicines in the Third World countries and national public health
budgets. This was the 18th instance of seizure, and second during the year,
when generic drugs meant for developing countries were confiscated during
transit within the European Union, though the manufacture of the drug in
India and sale in the destination country were legal. According to the
Permanent Mission of India to WTO in Geneva, the seizure happened in spite
of India=B9s persistent efforts to convince the European Commission on the
need to review its rule that allows confiscation of such consignments even
if they are not meant to be used in the country. The government is also
planning to take up the matter with WTO=B9s dispute settlement forum soon,
said a senior government official.The same drug was seized on similar
grounds in October last year in Amsterdam and was released seven months
later. The regulation in question =8B EC Regulation 1383 =8B allow protecti=
on of
patents and other intellectual property rights (IPRs) and extends to goods
in transit. Industry sources said the situation was likely to remain grim
unless there was a change in the EU regulation. Further, the transit issue
has also been mixed up with sub-standard and spurious medicines, which, the
domestic industry feels, needs a separate treatment as compared to
allegations over IPR violations.The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA),
the select club of leading domestic drug firms, has identified seizure in
transit and IPR enforcement and protection as serious challenges being face=
d
by the industry in the international arena. IPA had even asked for financia=
l
assistance from the government to fight the enormous challenges faced by th=
e
domestic industry at a global level. =B3We have not sought any protection f=
rom
the central government to save the industry. The intention is to seek
appropriate funding mechanism for litigations involving issues such as
seizures (happened in Paris)....=B2, IPA secretary general D G Shah said. I=
PA
members =8B Cadila Healthcare, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy=B9s, Glenma=
rk,
Intas, Lupin, Sun, Micro Labs, Torrent, Unichem, USV and Wockhardt =8Baccou=
nt
for a third of India=B9s drug exports and a third of the domestic market.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-takes-drug-seizure-issue-=
t
o-wto-council/375277/