India has defended its right to grant licences allowing local firms to override patents and make cheaper copies of drugs discovered by big Western drugmakers, and said reports to the contrary were “fa
India has defended its right to grant licences allowing local firms to override patents and make cheaper copies of drugs discovered by big Western drugmakers, and said reports to the contrary were “factually incorrect”.
The commerce ministry statement comes weeks after Reuters and media in India quoted the United States business advocacy group, US-India Business Council, as saying that India had given private assurances that it would not grant compulsory licence.
“There have been recent media reports that the government has privately assured that it will not issue any more compulsory licences. It is hereby clarified that such reports are factually incorrect,” the ministry said in the statement late on Tuesday.
“Under the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement Public Health, each member has the right to grant compulsory licences and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licences are granted.”
Governments are allowed to grant such licences under certain conditions, such as public health emergencies, to ensure access to affordable medicines. India granted the first such licence in 2012, allowing Natco to sell a copy of Bayer’s cancer drug Nexavar at a tenth of the price, leading to criticism by big pharma companies.
