The struggle for generics in Europe
Not mincing words, Modi pointed to the visiting German
Chancellor Angela Merkel that the European Union ban on the Indian generic
drugs is quite unwarranted and an obstacle to free trade talks with the EU,
which have collapsed following the EU-clamped ban on as many as 700 generic
medicines from South Asian major.
A generic drug has same constituents, dosage
form, strength and quality as a branded drug, and is marketed under a
non-propriety name after expiry of the original drug patent, and is, therefore,
cheaper.
EU is India's largest trade partner, and
imports from India were at $98 billion in 2014-15. However, India is only EU’s
9th largest trade partner.
The EU ban may cost India about $1.2 billion,
according to India’s pharmaceutical industry body Pharmexcil. EU wants India to
accept data exclusivity and patent term extensions for free trade agreement
(FTA) with it before the WTO talks in Nairobi in December.
India rejected these provisions. But India
opposes any changes in its laws that weed out affordable generic medicines. As
Assocham estimates, the domestic generic market may cross $27.9 billion by 2019
from $13.1 billion now i.e., a healthy CAGR of about 16.3 per cent.
Developing countries and concerned NGOs and
civil societies the world over are waiting with bated breath how India would
protect its generic drugs, which are the lifeline for the millions of the poor
people around the globe.
However, the Big Pharma, with covert support
from developed countries, stubbornly views and treats the health issue only in
terms of cost factors, notwithstanding the sufferings of the poor people.
If no affordable access to medicines forms
the core of agenda of action on the health goal in the UN-adopted Sustained
Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
for all at all ages), what good the avowed objective would be?
Over 70 per cent of the world’s poor and sick
are burdened by various debilitating diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, Ebola and
non-communicable diseases for want of access to affordable drugs.
The third goal of SDG aims at reducing global
maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births, ending preventable deaths in newborns and
under-fives, and ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and
neglected tropical diseases.
A UNDP report says that 63 per cent of all
deaths worldwide stem from non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular
diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.
The cumulative economic losses to low- and
middle-income countries from the four are set to cross $ 7 trillion by the year
2025. As India fights the EU, support is
coming from several quarters.
Charity Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors
Without Borders berated the EU, read Big Pharma, ban as a move to ensure
“profit reigns above people's lives,” and urged India not to cave in to
pressure. India, therefore, should not budge, if it has to achieve the global
target of health for all by 2030.
Source: http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2015-10-07/Generic-struggle-179569
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