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Govt move to please MNC pharma
Highlights
Medical representatives across the country are embarking on a countrywide strike on December 16 to exert pressure on the government not to capitulate to the demands of the Big Pharma. The government has not only consented to provide Data Exclusivity to the patent right
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Medical representatives across the country are embarking on a countrywide strike on December 16 to exert pressure on the government not to capitulate to the demands of the Big Pharma. The government has not only consented to provide Data Exclusivity to the patent right holder, but has also come out with a funny formula of taking the average price of top selling brands - enjoying more than 1% of marketshare - as its price. This will drive the cost of essential medicines upwards. Besides, a move is afoot to discredit the Indian generic medicines. Time has come to claim the right to health as our birth right Issue of common man’s health issues not being on the agenda of the government is the issue now.
After independence, the then rulers wanted to save the poor Indian ailing community from exploitation by multinational corporations (MNCs) in pharmaceutical sector with unwanted, hazardous and unimaginably highly priced medicines. They devised policies and programmes, and public sector undertakings (PSUs) were set up in the pharma sector, which produced and supplied basic drugs at an economical cost to manufacturers of formulations. This attracted many Indian entrepreneurs to enter the fray and the country achieved not only self-reliance in medicines but could also export substantial amount of them to countries abroad as appreciated by UNIDO in the early ’80s itself.
The Indian Patent Act 1970 was enacted and the salient part of it was not to grant product patent to anyone. This enabled Indian companies to manufacture even newer molecules and extend them at affordable cost to our the needy population. Such a beneficial Act was amended under the compulsion of Dunkle’s Draft Treaty, popularly known as DDT, in 2005 to stave off any crisis situations in the health sector in the country. Compulsory Licensing is to be allowed in times of need and not allow evergreen patenting tactics.
Organisations like the Federation of Medical Representatives’ Associations of India played a key role in banning irrational combination and hazardous medicines.
The MNCs were compelled to manufacture their medicines here instead of importing them from their countries. Every company was to manufacture and market essential medicines compulsorily to the tune of not less than 10% of their turnover.
From 1990, the mood, policies and the programmes of the government took a drastic turn from the character of benevolence to investor-friendly. Such a change in the policies had its catastrophic impact in the field of medicines.
MNCs are now allowed to acquire, take over or merge with the Indian giant pharma companies. This paves way for revival of MNC domination, which is sure to lead to a situation of marketing only profitable medicines at a cost not affordable for the poor section of the country, besides giving raise to monopoly in the field. In the last few years through such acquisitions, mergers and takeovers, a number of Indian giants in the field have come under the MNCs but neither production nor employment has been increased at all. On the other hand, employment is shrinking in the process of hiking profit by reducing overheads. A number of medicines are being directly imported, making the users pay exorbitantly high price.
To nullify the favourable amendments made in the Indian Patent Act, the MNCs through their governments exert pressure. The present government with all its succumbing attitude, while signing multilateral agreement with Trans Atlantic countries has consented to provide Data Exclusivity to the patent right holder, through which the patent holder will enjoy monopoly for quite some years. Data exclusivity is a form of exclusivity, which prevents regulators from using the clinical trial test data that had been used to approve the originator’s product, to also approve the chemically (or otherwise) equivalent generic product.
While fixing the price of essential medicines, the government has come out with a funny formula of taking the average price of top selling brands enjoying more than 1% of marketshare as its price. By this, the small and medium manufacturers, who were pricing their products at a level affordable by poor patients, are encouraged to hike their cost to the permitted level, causing immense pain to the common man.
A good number of Indian pharma companies are selling medicines as generic version, which costs much less than the patented version of the same molecule. A false propaganda is unleashed that the Indian generic versions are sub-standard. Our government has even allowed FDA, the American licensing authority, to have its inspecting outfits in India to monitor the Indian manufactures, which is an assault on the very sovereignty of the country.
It is against this background that the sales promotion employees of pharma industry, who are known as medical representatives, have taken up the cause of the common man and are going on a countrywide strike on December 16 demanding that the government reduce drug prices by fixing the MRP based on cost price rather than at the average price of top brands. Their other demands include: Capping MNCs share in the pharma industry to the previous level of 29%; putting a check on MNCs takeover and acquisitions; resisting the pressure of developed countries to dilute the Indian Patent Act; revival of PSUs in pharma; and withdrawal of permission to the FDA outfits to inspect our manufacturing processes.
At a time when the government is shirking its responsibility to the health of the unprivileged classes, medical representatives have taken upon themselves the task of exerting pressure on the government to effect course correction, by taking up countrywide strike and other protests. Their initiative definitely deserves appreciation as well as unstinted support from one and all.
More and more organisations should come forward to shoulder such social cause to foster a people’s movement to wrench back the right to health as our birth right and not leave health an entitlement for the privileged rich only.
A G Rajmohan
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