India-EU FTA: Will medicine prices spiral?

Even as India and the European Union have resolved to conclude the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by October, the deal has come under attack form the Indian pharma industry and civil society groups. Indian protesters claim, the EU is pushing for norms that are even stricter than Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and will adversely impact the Indian generics sector, reports Rituparna Bhuyan and Nayantara Rai.

Baby Sol was oblivious to the sloganeering around him as he silently ate his lunch watching his parents protest outside the Commerce Ministry. About 100 protestors gathered at Udyog Bhawan to voice their dissent against the India-EU Free Trade Agreement. Civil society groups are concerned that the EU-US demand for changes in India's Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime may make it more stringent than the TRIPs regime. They fear, if India accedes, prices of essential medicines could spiral up by 5 to 50 times.

According to sources, demands by EU include amendments in the Indian Patents Act, so that patents have extended periods of validity. In addition, the EU is also demanding data exclusivity, which if accepted will block Indian pharma companies to register their medicines in India.

Naturally, the USD 20 billion Indian pharma industry is also concerned at the India-EU FTA negotiations.

Till January this year, there have been eight rounds of negotiations on the proposed FTA. On its part, the Commerce Ministry maintains that no part of the negotiating texts have been agreed upon. However, it has assured the civil society groups that it will organize a consultation shortly.