Innovation can benefit Indian drug industry

CHENNAI: Extending patent protection to incremental pharmaceutical innovation should encourage Indian pharmaceutical companies to expand further their investment in innovation and ultimately become major sources of new products for both the Indian and global markets.

A report by US-India Business Council-supported ‘Coalition for Healthy India’ made the above observation to highlight and substantiate the impact of restrictive policies in India with regard to medical and pharmaceutical innovation.

The report also mentioned about the patient-centric perspective to the public discourse on IPR and drug patents and the positive impact that incremental innovation could have on patient care in India.

The report noted that in the early 90s in India, pharmaceutical R & D sales had jumped from 0.4 per cent to as much as 4.8 per cent by 2004. By 2006, after India began to allow patents on pharmaceutical products, three largest pharmaceutical firms - Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy – were investing almost 12 to 18 per cent of their annual sales revenue in R & D, that is on a par with the leading global innovator firms.

Greg Kalbaugh, Director and Counsel at the US-India Business Council, said, “It is unfortunate that the voice of the patient seems to have been lost in the debate on intellectual property and drug patents. Incremental pharmaceutical innovation has very real benefits for Indian patients, since it leads to the development of life-saving drugs as well as drugs that markedly improve their quality of life. By no means are these innovations minor.” “By preventing many valuable pharmacuetical innovations from receiving patent protection, Section 3 (d) of India’s Patents Act inhibits the development of safer, more efficacious and more useful drugs for Indian patients,” said the author of the report Raj Gandesha, a senior lawyer with the global law firm of White & Case LLP.