National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), under work plan of the WHO Biennium 2004-2005 and union ministry of health and family welfare, has begun to collect inputs from various stakeholders on the impact of TRIPS regime on pharmaceutical prices in India. As a first step, a national workshop was organised by the institute on January 14, 2005.
Dr Nitya Anand, former director, central drug research institute, set the tone for the discussion by reminding the key role IP laws had to play in the growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry. He wanted the government to be very cautious in its approach while bringing about any changes in the patent laws due to the same reason.
Prof P. Rama Rao, director, NIPER, also underlined the importance of keeping medicine prices in check as 95 per cent of Indian citizens pay medical bills from their pockets. "Unlike several other countries, it's the individual that bears the entire cost of medicines here. Therefore, there is a great need to understand the current pricing mechanism, the impact of TRIPS regime on medicine prices and suggest appropriate measures," he said.
The institute plans to analyse all initial inputs and call for another national workshop within three months to finalise its recommendations. The speakers of workshop include experts like Dr N K Ganguly, director-general, ICMR, Dr H R Bhojwani, advisor to the state minister of science and technology, New Delhi, Dr Amarjit Singh, Sun Pharma, Dr. H P S Chawla,Unimark Remedies, Dr Dinesh Abrol, NISTAD, Amitava Guha, FMRAI, Dr A D Damodaran, IPR Consultant, Dr G Wakankar, IDMA, Prof. A K Gupta, PGIMER, Dr Amit Sengupta, Delhi Science Forum, Prof. Harkishan Singh, and Dr Naresh Kumar, IMTECH, Chandigarh.
The workshop also had participants from related ministries, pharma industry, drug procurement agencies, policy makers, IPR professionals, legal personnel, regulatory authorities among others.
With effect from January 1, 2005, the product patents have come into force in India. This marks the culmination of a ten-year transition period, which began when India signed the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement in 1995.