[Ip-health] Pharma MNCs campaigning against generics / Right to read for VIPs

[Pranesh Prakash]

Apologies for cross-posting.

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Pharma MNCs campaigning against domestic sector: Sharma

=E2=80=98Some multinational firms continue to misinform, mislead and confus=
e=E2=80=99.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 11 India complained to the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) on Wednesday that some multinational firms have
launched a campaign against the country=E2=80=99s pharmaceutical industry.

Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry, told Mr Francis
Gurry, Director General of WIPO, =E2=80=9CWe know how the campaign was ther=
e.
Some multinational firms continue to misinform, mislead and confuse when
it comes to the Indian generics, which have brought a major change in
the world.

=E2=80=9CThere was a time when there was suffocating stranglehold of
multinational drug cartels in anti-retrovial drugs for HIV AIDS.=E2=80=9D

Several consignments of off-patent generic drugs by Indian firms have
been seized in the recent past in Europe while being taken to Brazil and
some African nations. It was Indian pharmaceutical firms that brought
down the annual treatment cost of HIV AIDS to $400 from $11,000, said
the Minister at a meeting organised by the WIPO and FICCI.

Africa and Latin America are major markets for India=E2=80=99s low-cost dru=
gs
used for treatment of HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The two
continents account for around 15 per cent of India=E2=80=99s pharmaceutical
exports of about Rs 40,000 crore.

Another long-standing issue discussed on Wednesday with the WIPO was the
right to read for the visually challenged people.

The treaty for visually challenged people, which has been tabled before
the WIPO, was discussed in a meeting organised by the National Institute
for the Visually Impaired, Daisy Forum of India and Centre for Internet
and Society. The visually challenged community of India made a brief
presentation and submission before Mr Gurry on India=E2=80=99s position wit=
h
regard to availability of books in accessible formats for the visually
challenged.

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--
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283