The Indian pharmaceutical industry has come a long way from its modest beginnings in 1970 to become a prominent maker of healthcare products meeting almost 95% of the country's healthcare needs. Now, the industry is stepping into a new zone by accepting the challenge of the TRIPS Agreement. While the domestic industry gears up to face the product patent regime, price hikes and inaccessibility of drugs seem to be the major concerns for the consumers. It remains to be seen what the new patent regime has in store for the various sectors of the pharma community.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry stands on the threshold of yet another change: TRIPS or Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights. The new product patent protection laws have become effective from January 1, 2005. It is a part of the WTO initiative to protect product patent and has been debated in all quarters of the industry as well as among the consumers. According to the new law any product or drug discovered after January 1995 can be patented in India, which gives the manufacturer the exclusive right to manufacture that product or drug. In other words, the inventor is granted monopoly of the drug for a specific period of time and during this period no other company can manufacture that drug without paying a patent fee to the patent holding company.
The success of India's pharma industry has been widely debated for its lineage towards creating reengineered products, low priced drugs, Over The Counter sales (OTC) and most importantly, the lack of stringent patent rules. However, with the new amendment on patents in place, the question that arises is: Is the Indian pharmaceutical industry going to witness a cascade of change?
The consumers, who have been worried about a possible price rise on medical products in the post-patent regime, are awaiting the outcome of the TRIPS amendment with bated breath. This will depend on how the Indian pharmaceutical industry deals with challenges in the new regime. |
