The only word that is shaking the World is ‘Zika Virus’ most dangerous disease affecting kids. Many countries and many scientists are working hard to find a vaccine to this virus. From India, the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech might be the first to come out with a vaccine for the Zika virus if its ability or result can be proved. Indeed, the country’s generic medicines are a lifeline for millions not only in low and middle-income countries but also in the developed world.
India’s generic industry hit global headlines in 2001 when Cipla offered a three-drug cocktail for AIDS at less than a dollar a day, a fraction of the price charged by multinationals. Today, apart from several HIV/AIDS drugs, the industry is producing affordable, high-quality medicines for several diseases including hepatitis B and C, cancers, drug-resistant TB and asthma.
This has been credited to India’s patent law, often held up as a model one in preventing the abuse of patent monopolies, and in balancing public interest and the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Typically, the price of many expensive patented drugs in European countries like France, Spain or the UK is half of what these cost in the US. In countries like Brazil or South Africa, these are a third or a fifth of the US price. The Indian price is often 1/100th.
The question is that how does the Indian generic industry manage to do it? The patent law in India is stringent on what is innovative enough to get a patent. Plus, the crucial section 3(d) in the law, much criticized by multinationals, has prevented “evergreening” — the attempt to patent different aspects and improvements of the same drug to extend the period of the patent, a lucrative game for the pharmaceutical business.
The courts in India also played a crucial role. In the case of entecavir for hepatitis B and erlotinib for lung cancer, for instance, instead of blindly handing out injunctions or upholding the validity of patents, the courts ruled in favor of public access to a lifesaving drug. This encouraged companies like Cipla, Ranbaxy, and Natco to do a ‘launch at risk’, a term that describes a company deciding to challenge a patent by launching a generic version.
India’s patent law also provides for granting of compulsory licenses under which the government can give a license to a manufacturer other than the patent holder for a royalty fixed by it for public health reasons.