[Med-privacy] Hindu Business Line: Drug companies focusing on data protection

[Jeff Williams]

Deborah and all,

   This to which your refer is borne of litigation and other legal
threats
which drug companies fear from Doctors and their patients..

DPeelMD@aol.com wrote:

>    Its really quite fascinating:  want strong protections for the
> privacy of their own intellectual property, yet they worked hard to
> get the US
> Govt. to eliminate the privacy of every American's prescription
> records.
> Apparently only the privacy of their own sensitive and valuable
> corporate
> proprietary information deserves protection, but not the sensitive and
> valuable
> identifaible prescription records of all Americans.
> Deborah C. Peel, MD
>
>
> Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
> Sunday, Apr 25, 2004
>
> Drug companies focusing on data protection
> Sanjiv Shankaran
> Chennai , April 24
> KEEPING secrets was never more valued in the pharmaceutical industry.
> A
> combination of impending changes in Indian patent laws and the growing
> importance
> of intellectual property have pushed some companies to get employees
> to sign
> confidentiality agreements.
> Confidentiality agreements have not been limited to employees.
> Companies no
> longer use recruitment as a way to buy another firm's confidential
> information.
> For instance, Orchid Chemicals, which researches new drugs, does not
> expect a
> potential recruit to disclose specific details of research carried out
> in the
> course of the existing job.
> "We don't want knowledge transplantation. As a company we are more
> interested
> in skills and competence," said Dr C.B. Rao, Deputy Managing Director,
>
> Orchid.
> The growing respect for intellectual property in general could be
> traced
> especially to the last three to five years, said Mr Sri Mosur, Vice
> President-Global Strategic Business Development, Austin Chemical
> Company.
> The US-based Austin had helped Indian companies like Shasun Chemicals
> to find
> business opportunities overseas.
> Mr Sri Mosur said the expected tightening in the Indian patent laws by
> the
> year-end, and the realisation that intellectual property was of
> greater value
> than the final product had contributed to the growing respect for
> intellectual
> property.
> "Indian companies will realise that cost effectiveness is not just by
> low
> cost manpower alone, but technological innovation which needs to be
> guarded as
> they tread the path of globalisation," said Mr Sri Mosur.
> Industry sources said though some companies discouraged the practice
> of
> getting confidential information from scientists who changed jobs, the
> entire
> industry did not follow a standard. Loosely, companies that carried
> out lots of
> research and collaborated with overseas companies tended to respect
> data secrecy.
> Despite differences in the standard, industry hands from companies
> that
> enforced confidentiality agreements said the legal system protected
> them.
> For instance, if another company came out with a product that
> suggested trade
> secrets had been stolen, the aggrieved party could approach the
> courts.
> Some industry observers, however, are unsure about the extent of the
> legal
> system's influence in nudging the industry to respect intellectual
> property. Mr
> Balaji K., Program Manager of Asia Pacific Life Sciences Practice at
> Frost &
> Sullivan, felt laws and the legal system might not provide enough
> protection.
> "Is it really strong?
> Is it (a verdict) possible within a definite time-frame?" he
> questioned.
> While hurdles exist, the move towards data protection could only grow,
> felt
> industry sources.
>
>

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
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