The King in Black Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Can somebody explain all this to me ? I've read articles about how generic and cheap Indian drugs are the only lifeline for millions of patients across the (developing and underdeveloped admittedly) world , which lead me to find that US and Pharma companies are ganging up on India tochange it's patent laws, which lead to finding out that they too have a point as patents and IPR are not being protected which is skewing the whole thing in Indian pharma's favour. So, can someone please elaborate on this issue as I don't have all the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malik Ambar Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Big Pharma is playing a bully here ; And everyone , from activists to academics and journalists , is acknowledging that. It all seemed to be going so well for the big pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma).National governments used to be able to choose whether to grant patents on pharmaceutical products or not. Some countries such as India didn't award any patents at all, literally giving generics drugs companies free licence to copy lifesaving drugs at affordable prices. Then the World Trade Organization's (WTO) agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) came into force, effectively handing Big Pharma exclusive patents in all markets as of 2005.As the authors of the 2011 book Intellectual Property,Pharmaceuticals andPublic Health wrote, "Not surprisingly, the wealthier countries were not only the principal protagonists of TRIPS but widely regarded as the main beneficiaries as well. In poorer countries … the patent system may amount to simply the granting of private rights of exclusion to foreign patent-holders." It was the crutial Court decision in the Novartis case, along with the compulsory upholding of licence of Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar that shook the Pharmaceutical Big Guns. They were justified, well within the TRIPS argument and legitimately proved that their arguments up to this point were simply wrong. The reason Big Pharma is so worried is that this is soon becoming a global trend. South Africa , Brazil and many other countries are thinking of modifying their patent laws that will thus force these companies to focus on patients rather than profits. This goes against the monopoly patents granted to these ' giants' thus cutting to their very bones. Big Pharma is clinging on to the old bussiness model, their stubborn denial of spiralling R&D costs is a sign of growing desperation. Everyone knows R&D is a costly process, but investments in R&D aren't decided by one market, but rather the global market , and in US and Europe these guys are safe, and they know it. There are other ways of procuring funds ; prize funds , patent pools and government paying according to what you produce. Why this inertia then ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malik Ambar Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Interestingly, they're also running a disinformation campaignhttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Finfojustice.org%2Farchives%2F30947&ei=EVS7VIuUJcmXuATzk4HICw&usg=AFQjCNG6_vpW098fRFJd2H5Z4wmi3BCpOA&bvm=bv.83829542,d.c2E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King in Black Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Hmm... The Indians don't have their hands clean either, but US pharmaceuticals seem to have a lot of dirt on theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King in Black Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 There also seems to be a huge pro-Pharma bias in the American academia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 There is also the issue of orphan diseases. These are diseases that have very little research into them as they mostly occur in underdeveloped countries. Sometimes there are available drugs, but because there is little or no profit, drug companies do little research or manufacturing for drugs to alleviate or cure these diseases. If India, et al., want to strike a deal with Big Pharma, offer them patent rights in return for orphan disease drug research and development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malik Ambar Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What's upsetting is that US media, like Forbes for example ( espcetially Forbes, actually) and medical journals are representing a purposely biased and one-sided narrative of this story ( biased for whom shouldn't be that difficult to guess) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suttree Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What's upsetting is that US media, like Forbes for example ( espcetially Forbes, actually) Forbes news or Forbes/sites? There is a pretty big difference between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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