US drug lobby to meet key govt officials this week

Representatives of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA) — the powerful drug lobby of US-based drug multinationals — are planning a series of high-level meetings with key central government officials in Delhi this week.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of a move by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (Dipp) to explore the possibilities of issuing compulsory licences to domestic drug manufacturers to make low-cost versions of patented essential medicines available.

While PHRMA sources termed the scheduled meetings as “routine”, civil society groups see this as a move meant to “stall” the process of compulsory licensing.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, 13 civil society groups wanted the government to go ahead with plans to increase the accessibility of essential medicines to common man.

In a joint response on September 29, PHRMA and its European counterpart had said that a policy to encourage compulsory licences on intellectual property would be counter-productive for the domestic drug industry. It also said Dipp’s discussion note on the topic contained several inaccurate and misleading statements that need rectification.

Of the 30 responses received by Dipp on its discussion note, at least 10 support the PHRMA views. The world’s biggest drug firm Pfizer, which had submitted a similar opinion in its individual capacity initially, had later withdrawn its response.

According to industry officials, the PHRMA delegation will meet officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), as well as the ministries of health and chemicals during October 21-22. The team is also expected to express its concern over some suggestions made by the parliamentary panel on the need to restrict foreign takeovers of Indian drug companies.

Incidentally, the demands raised by the foreign drug manufacturers through the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India before PMO got rejected after the nodal department Dipp shot down those proposals to make Indian patent laws more stringent.

The open letter from civil society groups such as All India Peoples Science Network, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and All India Drug Action Network wanted the government to put a cap on foreign direct investment on the ownership of pharma companies. It also wanted liberal use of compulsory licences.