The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), representing large domestic drug-makers in India, has taken exception to the methodology that the Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC) of the US Chamber of Commerce adopted to rank India in the recent International Intellectual Property index.

“The GIPC is pushing the US government to take immediate steps to bring very serious pressures on Indian government for the benefit of American companies operating in India, even if it is at the cost of the public health,” the IPA said, commenting on the second edition of IP index, prepared by GIPC in collaboration with Pugatch Consilium.

As per the index, India was ranked on the bottom among 25 countries. India scored 6.95 out of 30. The Index maps the IP environment of countries using 30 indicators to measure the strength and weaknesses of a country’s IP regime based on membership and ratification of international treaties, market access, enforcement of IP regulations, and patent protection against international standards (including TRIPS and WIPO) and best practices.

In July 2013, the first edition of the report titled “India: International Outlier on IP” also ranked India last when it included only 11 countries. The IPA had then questioned the methodology in its response to Pfizer Testimony.

“The ranking in the Index reflects the state of development of the countries. The high income countries are ranked the highest in the Index. The upper middle income countries are in the next tier. India, the poorest nation in the Index was ranked ‘dead last’. We may add that India’s per capita annual income at US$ 1,410 in 2011 was equivalent to about 10 days’ of per capita annual income of the USA.  Surprisingly, your testimony completely disregards the context,” the IPA pointed out about the first edition.

IPA secretary general D G Shah said the second edition also did not provide much of the details about the methodology used for the index. “For example, they use baselines from international treaties to assign scores to determine the level of IP rights. However, as described by the study, where no adequate baselines are found in international law or treaties, the baselines and values used are based on what rights holders view as an appropriate environment and level of protection. The index uses “mixed indicators” which the authors use to score “gray areas” for a country’s performance.”

“The methodology for scoring mixed indicators (based on a 0, .25, .5, or 1) is not explained, leaving the authors to arbitrarily assign a score to a particular indicator as to what they believe the score should be. They also did not explain why they chose the countries it included in the Index, instead just saying it took a sampling of high, middle, and low income countries,” he said.

According to IPA, Pugatch Consilium is also advising big pharma companies (Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, and Astra Zeneca) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA).