Indian generics have made drugs affordable: Sharma

Charging the multinational companies with making several drugs beyond the reach of the poor, visiting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma today asserted it is the Indian generics which have challenged such a "suffocating stranglehold" and made the medicines affordable.     

"The arrival of Indian generics changed the pharmaceuticals discourse globally," Sharma said at a press briefing in Washington at the conclusion of his three-day trip to the city, during which he held meetings with officials of the Obama Administration.     

"Before the arrival of the Indian generics there was a suffocating stranglehold of multinational cartels, particularly in anti-retroviral (ARV) and life saving drugs which were beyond the reach of poor countries," he said.     

Asserting that this issue was ethical and not commercial, Sharma said it was first fought on the soil of Africa — South Africa when the issue of Indian entry of retroviral came up. "At that time the cost of ARVs per person per annum was between $13,000 to $15,000. It was brought down in one stroke to $1,200. Today it is in the vicinity of $600. That is a huge contribution," he said.

"This was challenged by the multilateral cartels, which then went to the court in South Africa, but lost. We know that there have been many attempts to discredit Indian generics, because they pose a larger challenge."     

"I put it more in the ethical perspective than the commercial one. Even if you look at the commerce, it should be favouring the poor and the vulnerable. We have to be very clear, the entire debate that is being raised and the seizers are not on the validity or the authenticity, these are pure commercial considerations," Sharma said.