[Ip-health] Pharmabiz.com- DoP calls meeting with industry to discuss IPR issues on Oct 9

[Terri - Louise Beswick]

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DoP calls meeting with industry to discuss IPR issues on Oct 9

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 08:00 IST
Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai

Concerned about the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues recently
raised by the European Union and many African countries that are
adversely affecting the export of generic drugs from India, the
Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has called a government-industry
meeting on October 9 to discuss the issues related to IPR and other
related issues such as IMPACT.

The DoP's concern in this regard comes in the wake of dwindling export
of pharma products to African countries and Latin American countries
ever since the EU countries late last year started implementation of
local patent rules rigidly. These EU rules stipulate that any product
patent that has been granted in EU countries, if being transported
through their countries, is also liable for confiscation under their
patent law.

Ever since, there has been an increasing incidence of seizures of Indian
generic drug shipments at EU/US ports, during its transit to other
countries, especially to African countries and Latin American countries,
on charges of counterfeiting and patent infringement. Interestingly,
these drugs were not patented in the importing countries.

Since then, the Indian companies were up in arms against the rigid EU
rules and have been knocking at the government's door to take up the
issue with the European Commission. The pharma exporters have been using
the EU ports to ship their products to other areas of the world like
Latin American countries due to its financial viability. If the drug
companies use the alternative routes to send the medicines, it is likely
to impact the cost competitiveness of Indian generic drugs.

Though the Indian government took up the issue at several forums,
including at World Trade Organisation (WTO), the issue still remain
unresolved.

Similarly, some African countries, reportedly under the influence of the
propaganda unleashed by the multinational companies (MNCs) against the
Indian generic drugs, recently started classifying Indian generic drugs
as counterfeit drugs. Some African countries like Kenya and Uganda
recently came out with draft Bills in this regard under which generic
drugs will be treated as counterfeit drugs.

The DoP will discuss these issues with the industry to redress the
grievance of the exporters.



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