The Mashelkar panel, set up by the Central Government to define the patentability criteria in the Patent Act, is to submit its observations before January 31, 2006. The committee would listen to all stake holders before finalising its recommendations before the deadline.

Dr R A Mashelkar, panel chairman said that the committee is receiving representations from all concerned. The panel had recently held its third meeting in Delhi. The panel was set up by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the Ministry of Commerce. The terms of reference of the group are to see if would be TRIPs (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) compatible to limit the grant of patents for pharmaceutical substance to new chemical entity or to new medical entity involving one or more inventive steps. The group will also study if it would be TRIPs compatible to exclude microorganisms from patenting.

The five-member technical expert group looking into the areas of concern in the amended Patent Act includes Dr R A Mashelkar, director general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Prof. Asis Datta, director, National Centre for Plant Genome Research, New Delhi; Prof. Madhav Menon, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and Prof. Moolchand Sharma, director, National Law Institute University, Bhopal.

The setting up of the committee was a direct follow-up of the assurance given by union commerce minister Kamal Nath while moving the official amendments to the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005 in the Lok Sabha on March 22, 2005. The minister had said that the issue of patent availability of new chemical entities and microorganisms would be referred to an expert committee and if as a result any amendments were suggested to safeguard the interests of these products, they would be incorporated in the new legislation later.

It should be noted that the National Working Group on Patent Laws has complained that the scope of patentability, as it stands today, is very wide. "Unless the government decides to specifically say that only basic inventions are allowed to be patented, domestic industry is going to be badly hit in the coming years. Our fear is that about 80% of the life saving drugs may move towards patent protection in the coming years. 70-75 % of the turnover of drug companies is going to be from patented drugs. So there is an urgent need to define the role of domestic industry," they said.

The Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC), a collective of patients, doctors, lawyers, NGOs and citizens concerned about public interest and their access to medicines, had also said that under the Patents Act as it currently stands, multinational drug companies will be able to take advantage of loopholes to improperly extend their monopolies and price important medicines out of reach for the majority of Indians. They wanted the government to protect public health and ensure continued access to affordable medications. AMTC also wanted the details of various hearings taking place before the panel to be made available online.

"There is an obligation upon the government to ensure an open and transparent process so that the public is aware of developments and the process is truly participatory and democratic. Please ensure that public comment is invited through open hearings across the country, including patients groups, legal professionals and other members of civil society. We hope that the findings of such hearings will be published online," requested the AMTC.