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INTECH probes drug price implications of TRIPS
UNU Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) has completed a detailed survey of the top 100 Indian pharmaceutical companies as part of an investigation into the likely effects of introducing product protection for pharmaceuticals on the prices of new medicines in developing countries.
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Padmashree Gehl Sampath |
Coordinated by Dr. Padmashree Gehl Sampath, the study will contribute to the work of the World Health Organization in this area.
The WTO agreement on Trade Related Aspects to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) obliges most developing countries to apply patent protection to pharmaceutical products from 2005.
The UNU-INTECH project "Economic aspects of access to medicines after 2005", commissioned by the World Health Organization's Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Health, studies how product patent protection on pharmaceuticals affects access to medicines in developing and least developed countries.
India 's experience is significant because it produces and exports generic copies of brand name products patented outside India. Under the recently introduced Indian Patent Ordinance that harmonizes Indian patent law with TRIPS, medical innovations will become patentable in India (along with other existing drugs where patent applications have been lodged in the Indian mailbox system since 1995).
These changes might increase incentives for Indian (and foreign) pharmaceutical companies to undertake research for the potentially large domestic market - including medicines for diseases particularly prevalent in India and other developing countries. It is equally likely, however, that Indian companies will no longer be able to produce generic copies of products patented elsewhere, because they will also be patented in India also.
Some observers believe the low price of brand name drugs available to institutions in developing countries has been caused by the threat of competition from low-priced Indian imports. After 2005 this threat will disappear for new medicines.
Using the results of the survey, conclusions will be generated on the impact of product protection for pharmaceuticals on the pricing and business strategies of brand name and generic producers in the new environment, particularly in respect of African countries. A report will be released in April.
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