With India and European Union moving into the final stages of framing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and launching the crucial round of negotiations here, a group of public interest organisations and the activists of Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) stepped up the campaign against the harmful provisions in the pact.

Scores of activists including those with HIV on Wednesday staged a novel protest `die in’ before the Udyog Bhavan (ministry of commerce) where India and the EU representatives launched the negotiations, here. After the activists blocked the traffic, a few of them including the HIV positive people were arrested by the police. The protesters also burnt the effigy of the trade commissioner, as the heavy posse of police had put in heavy security in the place.

The leaders of the campaign told Pharmabiz that they would further intensify the campaign against the inclusion of intellectual property provisions in the FTA and hold protests in the days to come as the many clauses in the FTA adversely affect the access to medicines especially for those afflicted with HIV.

The negotiations, considered to be crucial, started yesterday and the talks on IP are expected take place tomorrow. The negotiations are expected to be concluded by the end of 2010.

“Four million people started AIDS treatment between 2003 and 2008, due to largely India's ability to produce low-cost quality medicines. The EU-India trade and investment agreement being currently negotiated may further reduce India's vital role as provider of life-saving treatments,” a spokesperson for DNP+ positive said.

Already with the introduction of the product patent regime in 2005, Indian generic companies cannot produce and supply new HIV medicines that will be needed soon for patients failing second line antiretroviral therapy. The EU-India FTA if concluded without removing the IP provisions will make it worse as it intends to prolong patent terms by a number of years. It makes registration of 'off patent' generic medicines difficult, seeks to undermine the Indian judiciary's role of protecting patients, and finally tries to legalise EU's border measures that led to the confiscation of life-saving generic medicines in transit to developing countries, she said.

“The 'Die In' protest was organized to emphasize the grave danger that countless human lives in developing countries face if the FTA is finalized without removing the IP provisions,” she added.