Affordable drugs: India stand justified
Just about two years ago, when the Supreme Court had rejected the claims of Bayer against grant of compulsory licence by India Patent Office to the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma for manufacture and sale of cancer fighting drug Sorafenib at Rs 8,800 per person per year against Rs 33.60 lakh by the multi-national firm, an impression was sought to be created by the global firms as if India was disincentivising research and development (R&D). Such a campaign had solicited help even from the officials from the US or other western nations suggesting India was transgressing the multilateral rules. This was far from truth, because what the India Patent Office had done was well within the rights given by the World Trade Organisation under the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) agreement reached at the landmark Doha Round in 2001 with a pivotal role by India’s then commerce minister late Murasoli Maran. At that WTO Ministerial Meeting, India had fought as a champion of the ...