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| Edited By: Priyanka Golikeri |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 03:37 AM IST
Will India drag the European Union to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over seizures of its legitimate generic medicines?
While government officials have over the last seven-eight months been saying that India will complain against the EU to WTO, nothing concrete has happened yet.
An official from the ministry of commerce and industry said the EU has assured India that the matter would be looked into. “EU has also promised us that they will change the law that confuses quality generic medicines with fake drugs”.
The official added that the government is looking at filing a complaint this month at the WTO dispute settlement body.
The issue pertains to seizure of over 17 consignments of Indian generic medicines between October 2008 and October 2009, bound for markets in Columbia, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Vanuatu, etc by the customs authorities at EU airports on charges that they infringed patents held by innovator companies.
The medicines neither enjoyed patent protection in India nor in the countries that were to import them.
The seized drugs from companies like Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Aurobindo Pharma, Ind-Swift Labs, Macleods Pharma were for AIDS, Alzheimer’s, blood pressure, etc.
Healthcare and patent law experts say India is dilly-dallying on filing a complaint as it could hamper the free trade agreement (FTA) with EU that the government is keen on concluding this year.
A patent law expert said, “If a complaint has to be made, it has to be done now as the issue is still fresh. At present it seems India is not asserting itself on the issue, while it is getting coaxed into concluding the FTA with EU, which has provisions to extend the life of patents beyond 20 years.”
According to Barun Mitra, director of Liberty Institute, a New Delhi-based independent think tank, negotiating with EU will be very difficult as there are varied interests and India will not find it easy to give in to those wishes. “As EU is a big importer from India, they might use a bilateral negotiating platform to bring greater pressure on India.”
Indian generic medicines are key requirements for patients in several developing countries.
International humanitarian aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres buys more than 80% of its requirement for AIDS drugs, and 25% of drugs for malaria, TB and antibiotics from India, according to Leena Menghaney, project manager, India, Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.
Moreover, approximately 50% of essential medicines that Unicef distributes in developing countries come from India, while 75-80% of medicines distributed by International Dispensary Association are made in India.
