Protest against new Patents Bill in New Delhi

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Protest against new Patents Bill

The Hindu, By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 7. A people's meeting and protest march were held here today

against the Patent Amendment Bill, expected to be tabled in Parliament by the

Government during the ongoing winter session. The meeting was organised jointly

by the Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign, the National Working Group

on Patent Laws and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.

According to experts, the Patents Bill in its present form seriously compromises

on the " accessibility and availability of medicines,'' the two important

components of the right to health.

Public interest groups working on health issues claimed that they were concerned

that India, through the Third Patent Amendment Bill, would trade away its rights

to protect the public health of people who need access to low-cost and

quality-generic medicines. They added that the introduction of a product patent

regime would reduce accessibility to new drugs.

Till now India provided for only process patents in the case of medicines. In

the case of a process patent, protection is only for the process and method of

manufacture and not for the product. Therefore a process patent does not prevent

third parties from manufacturing the product through another process. But in the

case of product patents, only the patent owner or the agent authorised by him

through a licence can produce the patented medicine.

Extended scope

" The Bill proposes to extend the scope of patentability to new use of known

medicines and to do away with pre-grant opposition procedure. What we are

demanding is that the product patent should be given only to new chemical

entities and not to new use and dosage forms. This will limit the number of

patent-protected drugs. Also, pre-grant opposition is absolutely essential for

blocking trivial patents as it gives an opportunity to interested parties,

including civil society, to be heard before granting a monopoly,'' claimed Anand

Grover of the Affordable Medicine and Treatment Campaign.

Protesters also state that the Bill has not properly incorporated the August 30

decision of the TRIPS General Council which permits the grant of compulsory

licences for export purpose to countries with no or insufficient manufacturing

capacity in the pharmaceutical sector.

More importantly, protesters claim, the people at large, as an affected party,

have a right to be consulted and heard. Unfortunately, the Government views

patents as a trade issue between Indian and foreign drug companies and not as a

health issue concerning the public. " Since the product patent regime will have

serious and adverse ramifications for the public interest and security of the

country, the Government should consult public interest groups and individuals on

the ways and means to ensure accessibility and availability of medicines,''

claimed a protester.