Yes its very true!!! the constitution of India under Article 21 guarantee each citizen of India Right to Life but due to some negligence from our representatives and pressure from external bodies we will be forced to compromise on accessibility, affordability and availability of medicines and food – three important components of Right to Health and Right to Food.

AND THE REASON FOR ALL THIS HAVOC IS “3rd PATENT AMENDMENT BILL”.

MEDICINES TO COST MORE FROM JANUARY 1st 2005!!!

3rd Patent amendment bill is due to be passed in December 2004

This Bill will increase the prices of NEW medicines for
· Cancer
· H.I.V.
· Diabetes
· Common diseases

Even today medicines reach less than 40% of the population. A patent system that encourages monopolies could price new drugs out of the reach of most consumers. Although this is an extreme piece of legislation the, law makers appears to have little background on how different system works. In fact they don’t have data on kind of safeguards that recently passed laws else where in the world have incorporated. All of which makes the government susceptible to pressure from vested interests.

BACKGROUND

What is patent??? A patent is a limited monopoly given to individuals/corporations for a limited number of years for technological inventions /innovations by preventing others from using the patented technology. It is granted at the request of individuals/ corporations by the Patent Office in respective countries. Hence, the patent right is available within the territory of the granting countries.

Indian Scenario: Right now, the Indian Patents Act provides only process patents for inventions in the pharmaceutical sector. As a result, more than one person is allowed to make the same drug provided they use different process to make their version of the product (if the process is protected by patent). Further, till 2002, the term of patents for pharmaceutical inventions was only seven years. These two factors enabled competition in the market by permitting more than one producer to produce the same drug. This resulted in the phenomenal growth of pharmaceutical industry in India and increased availability and accessibility of drugs. As a result drugs are available in India at world’s lowest price

WTO Demands: India must amend its Patent Act by 31 December 2004 to introduce product patent regime to comply with Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). A TRIP is part of the Final Act of Uruguay Round, which established the World Trade Organization (WTO). India signed the TRIPS Agreement to become a member of the WTO in 1994.

PROBLEM: After the introduction of product patent protection only the patent holder or any authorized person through license can produce the patented drug during the lifetime of the patent. As a result, there would be only one manufacturer producing and distributing the patented product.(Most of the Patents are hold by American Pharmaceutical companies) Introduction of product patents means that drug companies in the normal course come out with generic will not be able to do so until the expiry of 20 years of patented life. Further, the implementation of product patents cover all drugs patented on or after 1 January 1995. Hence, the product patent regime reduces the access to many new drugs and compromises the right to health. The impact of product patent in India will not be visible immediately. However, the product patent will reduce the access to new medicines.

SOLUTION

India can safeguard its interest by using the maneuvering space available within the TRIPS Agreement. The main issues with the present amendment bill are:

Patentability

The first step in this direction would be to deny usage and dosage patents. Contrary to popular perception, there are many patents on a single drug mainly on their usage and dosage forms. Such multiple patents on a single drug will extend the monopoly beyond the expiry of original patent. A study shows that out of 1035 new drugs approved by the US regulatory authority during 1989-2000 only 35% contains a new chemical entity. However, the bill proposes to provide patents to new use of known medicines.

Compulsory License

A second step would be a total revamp of the compulsory licensing system. The present compulsory license regime in the Patents Act is loaded with cumbersome procedural formalities with no fixed time line. Fulfillment of these formalities itself delays the granting of compulsory licensing unreasonably and reduces the compulsory license to an ineffective mechanism to check monopoly.

Pre-grant Opposition

Pre-grant opposition gives the public to challenge the patent application before the grant of patents. But it is not involved in the Bill.

Ø PUT RIGHT TO HEALTH ABOVE PATENTS

Ø SAY NO TO USAGE & DOSAGE PATENTS

Ø RETAIN PRE-GRANT OPPOSITION

Ø SAY NO TO TRIPS PLUS PROVISIONS


WHAT WE NEED TO DO:

We need to send the petition to the various ministries including the President and Prime minister of India. I have attached the copy of petition and the phone numbers and faxes numbers with this mail.
We have to faxes them petitions as many as we can…
We have to flood their mail ids with mails…
We are planning to have a protest march and the tentative date is 18th December in Delhi.
We need volunteers to work with us and help us in coordinating.
COME FORWARD we need to act immediately as the bill is about to pass in parliament before 31st of December.

AID Bangalore is going for a protest march on 9th December and we have to support them.



YUVRAJ