Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Last week, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with leaders in New York and Washington, DC, there was an all-out campaign by pharmaceutical companies to force the Prime Minister’s hand on intellectual property. Threatened by free trade of high-quality and affordable Indian generic medicines, US-based pharmaceutical companies and politicians friendly with the industry spent the week using prominently placed Opinion pieces, paid advertisements and letters to President Barack Obama to spread false information. They claimed India’s IP rules were not legal, that they were discouraging innovation, and would harm ever-desirable foreign direct investment. Evidence shows none of this is true, but truth is rarely a brake on political machinations here in Washington, DC.
The signals about how successful this campaign was are mixed. On the one hand, Mr Modi is reported to have told US companies that “India needs medicines that are affordable for its population.” At the same time, the White House reports that the two sides agreed to a “high-level Intellectual Property Working Group.” Perhaps this is shrewd play by Mr Modi — give the Americans a chance to vent without undermining Indian health and industry. However, these types of “working groups” have often been used quite effectively by American administrations to manipulate other governments on behalf of US corporations behind closed doors. Seemingly “technical” chan-ges to the other countries’ policies often turn out to have major negative affects. Following America-led policy proscriptions could severely damage the Indian economy and health system, as well as restrict access to affordable medicines for patients around the world.
So what exactly is the misinformation being spread?
American companies have been threatening to withhold foreign direct investment if India does not adopt weaker patent laws that would extend pharmaceutical monopolies and stymie the country’s generic industry. Think tanks funded by pharmaceutical companies have also been repeating the mantra that “innovation” is harmed by India’s patent laws. Yet experts are increasingly bemoaning the US’ maximalist system that actually rewards copy-cat products instead of true innovation.
India’s pharmaceutical industry has been able to flourish because of the country’s pro-public health patent laws, in which patents are only granted on new medicines or for significant changes on old medicines. The US, in contrast, regularly gives out patents on frivolous changes and slightly modified versions of old medicines that do not provide enhanced therapeutic benefit, but extend monopoly protection and keep drug prices high.
Finally, the claim has continually been made that India’s IP laws are not internationally legal. The US Trade Representative listed India on its “priority watch list” in this year’s Special 301 Report, which is annually published to shame countries with a veiled threat of trade sanctions if their intellectual property legislation is not beneficial to American businesses. Rather than shaming India, the US should learn from the country’s use of intellectual property policy to promote true innovation and equitable access to medicine. If US policymakers get their way it will help US multinationals, but at the expense of the health of people in India and throughout the global South.
The writer is senior policy analyst at the Health Global Access Project and a fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania
