The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, has introduced draft amendments to the Patents Rules, 2003. These drafts detail various changes proposed by the Central Government, anchored on section 159 of the Patents Act, 1970. The government seeks to amend the …
Biopiracy is a compound word consisting of ‘bio’ which is a short form for ‘biology’ and ‘piracy’. Biopirates are those individuals and industries/companies accused of one or both of the following acts: (i) the theft, misappropriation of, or unfair free-riding on, genetic resources and/or traditional knowledge, and (ii) the unauthorized …
Why don't you sell it for Rs.5? Rs.1.2 lakh per month is too high." On September 11, Supreme Court Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai posed that question to Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, fighting to patent its expensive cancer drug Glivec. The question wasn't just judicial speculation or indeed wit. …
As India plays host to the Convention on Biological Diversity's 11th Conference of the Parties in Hyderabad in October 2012, this article takes a closer look at the country's legislation on the subject - the Biological Diversity Act (2002).
Open source drug discovery offers potential for developing new and inexpensive drugs to combat diseases that disproportionally affect the poor. The concept borrows two principle aspects from open source computing (i.e., collaboration and open access) and applies them to pharmaceutical innovation. By opening a project to external contributors, its research …
14 New Drug Molecules Approved Between Jan & July 2012, Only 9 Tested: Azad New Delhi: Drugs continue to be approved in India without having undergone proper clinical trials on the local population. Just months after the parliamentary standing committee on health exposed how the country’s highest office on drugs— …
Novartis patent case up for hearing this week; judgment to have far-reaching impact Mumbai/London: The Supreme Court will hear final arguments starting this week in a landmark case over drug patents that could change the rules for the country's healthcare sector and potentially curb its global role as a supplier …
An inter-ministerial group tasked with regulating prices of patented medicines has recommended using a per capita income-linked reference pricing mechanism, a proposal that may reduce prices of several patented dugs by up to onethird but will hit the profitability of foreign companies. The committee, headed by an official from the …
The traditional knowledge (TK) of India’s people touches many lives within the country and outside it. For the holders of TK, it is their very lives and thus valuable as is. For others who don’t live by it, it has been priced – given a monetary value, be it by …
Uncontrolled medical treatment in Asia and Africa costs lives and money. David Peters and Gerald Bloom call for governments, firms and citizen groups to get involved.
The National Institute for Inter-disciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) is offering a technology for clear extraction of banana fibre on a non-exclusive basis. NIIST is an affiliate of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) based here. PATENT SOUGHT The indigenously developed process know-how is for ‘clean extraction of …
The Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 has been enacted by the Government of India bringing changes to the Copyright Act, 1957. The amendments make Indian copyright law compliant with the Internet Treaties, WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). The amendments grant performers’ rights to performers. While …
German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG has formally lodged a challenge against a landmark Indian ruling that allowed a domestic generic drug-maker to produce a low-cost version of an anti-cancer drug for the Indian market. The appeal was filed on Friday 4 May with India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
Liberalisation measures in the pharmaceutical sector have brought about major changes in the industrial licensing policy, import restrictions, foreign direct investment and production controls. It was feared that firms would shift from indigenous production to imports, especially of bulk drugs, and this concern was aggravated with the change in the …
The compulsory licence issued to Natco for manufacture of the anti-cancer drug Nexavar is a landmark decision on many grounds – the first one in India since the 2005 amendment to the 1970 Patents Act and the fi rst in the world issued to a private party. There are some …
Health is a crucially important social and economic asset - a cornerstone for human development. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) call for specific health improvements by 2015: reducing the child and maternal mortality and slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
In January 2005, drug product patent protection was reintroduced in India to comply with the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies responding to the new policy environment? Is India likely to see monopolisation of the industry and high prices, which was …
In a landmark move, the Indian Patent Office announced on Monday that it has issued its first compulsory license to a domestic generic drug-maker. The decision effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG's monopoly over an anti-cancer drug and authorises the production of a low-cost version for the Indian market.
