"Try and think once, if you are putting lot of efforts, research and money for writing an article and then, you see the article publishing but with somebody else’s name! How disgusted you will feel?" said Patrick Kilbride, who represents Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while trying to validate his opinion over India's allegedly poor intellectual property rights structure.
“This is what the global drug makers feel when they are denied patent in India and then, the similar copy-cat versions, for instance of cancer drug Gleevac, are made here in generic versions and imported by other countries,” Kilbride said while recalling the landmark patent case where Novartis lost the patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec.
Kilbride, executive director of international intellectual property at GIPC, is in India to talk about the simmering discontent over IPR infrastructure. Since President Donald Trump’s America First policy was announced, many trading partners of the US fear this might be an attempt to erect barriers to foreign goods entering the US. However, Kilbride also agrees that with Trump taking the charge the pressure on strong IPR regime will go up.
“Try and think once, if you are putting lot of efforts, research and money for writing an article and then, you see the article publishing but with somebody else’s name! How disgusted you will feel?” said Patrick Kilbride, who represents Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while trying to validate his opinion over India's allegedly poor intellectual property rights structure.
“This is what the global drug makers feel when they are denied patent in India and then, the similar copy-cat versions, for instance of cancer drug Glivec, are made here in generic versions and imported by other countries,” Kilbride said while recalling the landmark patent case where Novartis lost the patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec.
Kilbride, executive director of international intellectual property at GIPC, is in India to talk about the simmering discontent over IPR infrastructure. Since President Donald Trump’s America First policy was announced, many trading partners of the US fear this might be an attempt to erect barriers to foreign goods entering the US.
However, Kilbride also agrees that with Trump taking the charge the pressure on strong IPR regime will go up. Sitting in a luxury hotel, situated in central Delhi, Kilbride felt that improper IPR structure may cause the shortage of newly innovated drugs for the critical diseases like cancer, HIV. “Many drug makers feel India is an uncertain market. They are reluctant to come and launch new drugs in India immediately. It is natural, as companies would go first to the markets where IPR are respected,” he clarified.
“Also, they fear to invest here as the government keeps the power to revoke patents arbitrarily,” he said while pointing that India has certain legacy and attitude issues when it comes about IPR structure. “It reflects that India has made different policy choices than most of the other countries in the world. Even the other BRICS nations are higher on the IP index,” he added while rubbishing the allegation by the domestic pharma lobby, Indian Pharmaceuticals Alliances, that the poor ranking is an attempt to force India omit safeguards on access to medicines. India has ranked 37th out of 38 countries, worst for its intellectual property rights environment in the annual IP index released by the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC).
