Fighting Cancer and Protecting Intellectual Property Rights (IPR):

Recently the government allowed a local pharma company to sell the generic version of the anti cancer drug Nexavar at 97%  lower than what is charged by the patent holder MNC drug company. This brings the cost of treatment down from the current INR 280000/- to just INR 8880 pm.  A welcome move for ordinary Indians  already crushed under mounting inflation.

Needless to say this would not have gone well with MNC drug companies.  The government made this concession under the compulsory licensing provisions of Patents act. To those who would like jog their memory, India moved from Process patents to Product patents in 2005 and it did not have much choice but to move post the Uruguay round of trade negotiations. The drug is under patent until 2021.

Drug pricing has been a sensitive issue every where. In the US where bulk of the medical innovations takes place and where IPR are well-protected, medical care has become beyond the reach of ordinary Americans. What is the use of innovations if those who need it cannot afford it. The nexus between insurance companies and drug companies has made medical care expensive prompting government intervention in a pure capitalist country like US. Another factor, which has added to the spiraling cost of medicines, is the merger of pharma companies. In the last 2 decades competition among global players had shrunk due to mergers as it has reduced the number of players in the market. It has been a double blow for the patients, reduced competition and stricter patent laws.

While innovation is key to new drug discovery, we cannot ignore the human side of it. Profit is a reward for enterprise but then it cannot be at the cost of life. Agreed MNC companies spend a lot of money on R&D and IPR is their way of recovering the cost of research spend, it is the margins they are looking for which is inhuman. Healthcare should not be treated like luxury industry that operates on high margin and low volumes.

When I was in my early teens, USSR was going through Glasnost and Perestroika. My uncle who is a communist at heart was pained at the developments there. I was a big proponent of privatization and he told me then the perils of giving private enterprise a free run. Today after two decades I understand what my uncle said. Though I still advocate privatization, it has to be bound by humanist boundaries. Invoking of the compulsory provisioning under the patent act is a welcome move. This will send a strong signal to MNC drug companies who are out to make a kill to mend their ways. When a choice has to be made between profit and human lives, the latter should be preferred and no compromise on that.