ISDS Case Map
medicines
Months after it called off talks between chief negotiators of the two sides on free trade agreement (FTA) to protest against the ban on sale of around 700 pharma products of a domestic company, India will meet officials from the European Union (EU) later next month to “take stock of the negotiations” on the long-pending FTA.
The escalation in patent protections is set to occur just as drug prices hit all-time highs in Canada and pharmaceutical investment in research and development sinks to decade-long lows.
Although TPP seems a remote issue, it could have a direct impact on EU consumers.
While the agreement was being negotiated, the US Trade Representative stated that a much-criticized arbitration process included in the TPP would not apply to intellectual property. Turns out, it does apply to IP.
A massive trade pact between 12 Pacific rim countries could limit the availability of affordable medicines, the head of the World Health Organization said
There is a paucity of information on drug prices, revenues and other relative information on the economics of the pharmaceutical market.
Preliminary analysis of the thousands of pages of the main chapters of the TPP text show there are still devils in the detail on medicine monopolies, investor rights to sue governments and copyright monopolies.
Implications of the TPP on the Indian pharma industry might not be entirely clear yet. But there is a need for India to engage in the debate of trade deals and public interest.
So far, the NDA government has been a mute spectator to the US pharma strategy of forcing Indian generics manufacturers to produce only what is required for Indian consumers and abandon the export of cheap drugs to Africa
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has published a report on IPR policy transparency by India’s new government
