UK trade deal with India at risk amid row over cheap generic drugs: India stands up to pressure !
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/25/britain-trade-deal-india-row-cheap-generic-drugs/
A multibillion-pound free-trade deal with India is under threat from a row over the UK’s demands for new curbs on the production of cheap generic drugs.
Indian negotiators have rejected Britain’s demand that patents on drugs should be extended before cheaper copies can be produced as a means to protect pharmaceutical giants’ businesses from generic competitors.
At the heart of the Indian drugs patent row is India’s thriving generic drug industry which is set against Britain’s pharmaceutical prowess that has led to the development of world-leading drugs such as vaccines for Covid.
Britain wants India to accept so-called TRIPS-plus arrangements, which offer longer patent protection for drugs than normally applies under the international agreements to which India has signed up, according to a leaked draft of the free trade agreement.
An official at India’s commerce ministry told The Telegraph that the Indian government was strongly opposed to the UK’s demand for patent term extensions on drugs and claimed it was unlikely the UK would be able to get it included in the final agreement.
He said the Indian government was ‘committed to protecting access to affordable medicines’ and that it would not agree to any provisions in the trade deal that would make it more difficult for generic drug manufacturers to operate in India.
More than 120 health and human rights groups and experts have written to Ms Badenoch at the UK business and trade department this weekend urging her to withdraw the proposals which they claimed could threaten the supply of generic medicines not only to low and middle-income countries but also globally.
In their letter, the health experts cited as an example this year’s decision by the Indian patent office to reject an attempt by Johnson & Johnson to extend the patent on its tuberculosis drug bedaquiline.
‘This case opened the door for other companies to produce affordable generic versions of bedaquiline, with some health experts estimating the cost of treatment could be cut by up to 80pc,’ said the experts from 28 countries ranging from Italy and Thailand to India, Ghana and Vietnam.
They added: ‘Depriving people of affordable medicines would increase health inequality, as only the wealthiest in our countries may be able to afford these medicines. Moreover, it would add further financial burden on our already stretched health systems.’
Opponents of the UK proposals have warned they could have a knock-on effect in the UK. Four in five of the medicines and drugs used in the NHS are generics, of which a third are from India, meaning about one in four medicines are un-branded Indian versions.
However, officials at Ms Badenoch’s business and trade department have strongly denied such claims.
‘The NHS, its services and the cost of medicines are not and have never been on the table for any trade deal. We will never agree to provisions that would increase the cost of medicines for our NHS,’ said a department spokesman.
‘The UK’s approach to IP is to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and ensuring access to affordable medicines – this has not changed.’