Saturday, September 4, 2010

Role of Patent Laws in Promoting R&D in Pharmaceutical Companies

In a recent blog post in Spicyip (available here) the author has raised certain questions in regards to the prevailing state of research and development of new drugs in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. At the end of his post he asks “Does the current legal regime including the patent regime provide incentives for radical innovation? Or is it lopsided in its approach of promoting only generic research? If yes, is this salubrious from a long term perspective? Does the extant legal and policy framework maintain a salutary balance between addressing public health concerns and providing incentives for radical innovation?
To answer such issues I would certainly have to draw attention to the fact that throughout history innovations or development has never been dependent on the protection provided by intellectual property. Although the presence of IPR traces back a long way, its full fledged application has only emerged in the last century. Having said so I do realize the need for laws to protect and promote research in fields such as biotechnology due the cost factor and the degree of risk involved.
However to put the blame on the present model of IP protection and to proceed on a trip looking for solutions in the present legal framework would be nothing short of tumbling down the wrong rabbit hole.
At the end of the day companies decide their own vision; the fact whether Dr. Reddy's Laboratories keeps or removes the words, ‘discovery led global pharmaceutical company’ from its grandiose vision statement has very little to do with extant patent laws and more to do with the risk and gain assessment of that corporation coupled with its ambition and core-mentality.
Success stories of pharmaceutical companies reaping great profits from the present legal paradigm of patent laws are numerous. However what we fail to appreciate is the fact that behind every success story like Lipitor hides tens of failures like Torcetrapib (Pfizer lost nearly $1 billion invested developing the failed drug).
The real issue does not lie in the laws but in the existing attitude to R&D in India, both corporate and Government. We are more than happy to buy technology rather than promoting or investing to develop them. Various reasons and factors can be attributed to the sad state of innovation done in our country considering the fact that there is hardly and lack of talented minds present in the country. Our step motherly approach to research ensures that the state is denied of any return from the hundreds of crores it invests in educating its citizens.
So the question is less of whether the law can do more to promote the development and more on the lines of whether Indian Pharmaceutical corporations along with the Government are willing to take the added risks to invest and promote a culture of R & D.

Alimpan Chatterjee
B.A.LL.B, 5th Sem

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