Concerned about the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues recently raised by the European Union and many African countries that are adversely affecting the export of generic drugs from India, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has called a government-industry meeting on October 9 to discuss the issues related to IPR and other related issues such as IMPACT.

The DoP's concern in this regard comes in the wake of dwindling export of pharma products to African countries and Latin American countries ever since the EU countries late last year started implementation of local patent rules rigidly. These EU rules stipulate that any product patent that has been granted in EU countries, if being transported through their countries, is also liable for confiscation under their patent law.

Ever since, there has been an increasing incidence of seizures of Indian generic drug shipments at EU/US ports, during its transit to other countries, especially to African countries and Latin American countries, on charges of counterfeiting and patent infringement. Interestingly, these drugs were not patented in the importing countries.

Since then, the Indian companies were up in arms against the rigid EU rules and have been knocking at the government's door to take up the issue with the European Commission. The pharma exporters have been using the EU ports to ship their products to other areas of the world like Latin American countries due to its financial viability. If the drug companies use the alternative routes to send the medicines, it is likely to impact the cost competitiveness of Indian generic drugs.

Though the Indian government took up the issue at several forums, including at World Trade Organisation (WTO), the issue still remain unresolved.

Similarly, some African countries, reportedly under the influence of the propaganda unleashed by the multinational companies (MNCs) against the Indian generic drugs, recently started classifying Indian generic drugs as counterfeit drugs. Some African countries like Kenya and Uganda recently came out with draft Bills in this regard under which generic drugs will be treated as counterfeit drugs.

The DoP will discuss these issues with the industry to redress the grievance of the exporters.