Indian firms need to forge alliances with MNCs to tread the R&D path and stay in the race.

With the amendment of the Indian Patents Act 1970 through a midnight ordinance on December 31, 2004, the Indian pharma sector has entered a new phase, vis-à-vis, the world pharma sector dominated by multinationals of the US and Europe. India waited for 10 long years starting from January 1, 1995, after the country became a signatory to the Marrakesh Agreement in Morocco, in 1994, to comply with the WTO mandated Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime. But successive governments dithered over the issue. To understand the current patent imbroglio in the country, one must go back to its genesis.

In 1970, India enacted the celebrated Indian Patents Act. Though it enabled the discoverers to have a legal right over their accomplishments for seven years, thereafter, the discoveries become common property. However, Indian law precluded the patenting of seeds, micro-organisms, medicines, and anything that concerned the life force. It is this basic tenet that has been swept off the floor by the current ordinance. The `product patent' regime, which has come into force, has, in one sweep, struck at the very root of this basic idea.

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