The new patent regime and disease priorities in India

Glob Public Health. 2013;8(1):37-54. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2012.704060. Epub 2012 Jul 30.

Abstract

The World Trade Organization (WTO) and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which made product patents compulsory for countries to follow, meant that the entire market for generic drugs was out of bounds for manufacturing till the time the products went off-patent. The TRIPS has generated widespread discussions and debates around the costs and benefits of new patent regimes on countries such as India. This article analyses whether the post-WTO system was consistent with, and conducive to, improved public health in India. It is a first-of-its-kind effort in which the data on pharmaceutical patents applications were collected, collated, cleaned and classified according to IPC codes, to enable preliminary understanding of the nature and type of the applications. The patent applications that are filed in India are not found to be consistent with the disease burden of the country.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Drug Industry / economics
  • Drug Industry / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Drug Industry / statistics & numerical data
  • Drugs, Generic / economics
  • Drugs, Generic / standards*
  • Health Priorities / economics
  • Health Priorities / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Health Transition
  • Humans
  • India / epidemiology
  • Intellectual Property*
  • Patents as Topic / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Patents as Topic / statistics & numerical data

Substances

  • Drugs, Generic