The multinational pharma companies' aggressive propaganda against the Indian generic drugs in African countries, which resulted in some countries like Kenya and Uganda coming out with Anti-Counterfeit Bills, will be countered by a group of NGOs working in the health sector. The NGOs will soon file a petition against the Anti-Counterfeit Act in Kenya pleading that the Act takes away the common people's right to access to generic medicines which are much cheaper than the patented drugs.
"We have decided to take the Kenyan government to court over the Anti-Counterfeit Act. Because we believe that it is not looking after the interests of PLWH (people living with HIV) including women and children. The Anti-Counterfeit Act threatens our lives as it takes away their right to access to generic medicines," the NGOs said.
Generic medicines are legitimate exact copies of their brand-name original. They are not counterfeits. They should not be confused with counterfeits. The manufacturing of generic medicines is not a criminal offence. We can only afford generic medicines because they cost up to 90 per cent less than the originals, the NGOs added.
Under the influence of the MNCs propaganda, Kenya and Uganda have recently come out with draft Bills under which even generic drugs will be classified as counterfeit drugs. This law even recognizes intellectual property (like patents) from other countries. This means that Kenyans would, by this Act, be required to comply with laws of other countries for which they are not citizens. For example, tenofovir is not patented in Kenya. However by this Act, the patent holder could actually stop its generic equivalent from entering into the Kenyan market.
Apart from Kenya and Uganda, other African countries are also intending to follow suit which will put the Indian pharma industry under great pressure as a sizeable part of the generic medicines in the African countries are supplied by Indian companies. Concerned over the development, the Indian authorities have already started a counter campaign in the African countries. In this regard the Indian authorities had convened an interactive 'clarification meeting' between Indian authorities and the diplomats from the African countries. Ambassadors and high commissioners of African countries in India had participating in the meeting held in April this year.
Recently, the MNCs are learnt to have spread the rumours in the African countries that the Indian generic drugs are spurious drugs and only patented drugs are good for consumption. Besides, the MNCs have also started a campaign in the African countries confusing them of spurious drugs with counterfeit drugs. While the spurious drugs are substandard drugs, counterfeiting is an issue associated with patenting and trademark.