Advocates protest meetings between pharma lawyers and Indian officials
Patient advocates in India are protesting meetings being held this week between a trade group that advocates for intellectual property rights on behalf of global drug makers and Indian government officials, including leading judges, who decide patent policies and cases.
The Campaign for Affordable Trastuzumab, which is the chemical name for the Herceptin breast cancer drug sold by Roche, believes the meetings organized by the Intellectual Property Owners Association are a “ruse” designed to co-opt policymaking.
The trade group, which also represents high-tech companies, says that its meetings with government officials are simply designed to exchange information about procedures and principles. The agenda indicates meetings are being held with Supreme Court justices and the Controller of Patents Office.
The flap comes as Indian government handling of patents is a flashpoint in the debate over intellectual property rights and access to medicines. Drug makers believe that the Indian government does not adequately protect patent rights and, as a result, may hobble innovation.
The pharmaceutical industry remains angry over a court ruling last year that denied a patent for the Gleevec cancer medicine sold by Novartis. Drug makers are also upset the Indian Health Ministry supports compulsory licensing, which makes lower-cost generics available.
Consumer groups, however, argue that the pharmaceutical industry unfairly pressures India, which is home to several of the largest generic drug makers, to tighten its policies over competitive fears and has convinced Washington to argue its case.
Last month, for instance, the Indian Prime Minister and President Obama agreed on forming a new “high level” working group on intellectual property issues. The U.S. Trade Representative regularly places India on its priority watch list for countries that fail to sufficiently protect and enforce patents rights.
For these reasons, the advocacy group is hoping to convince Indian government officials and judges not to meet with the trade group, citing ethical issues since there are various pending patent applications and courts cases to be reviewed. Some of these involve members of the IPOA trade group.
In a letter sent to several High Court justices and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, the advocacy group writes that “the intent of these meetings is clear – they are blatant attempts to influence the judicial outcomes in cases relating to drug patent disputes that are currently before the courts.”
The purpose of the meetings is “clearly to create an opportunity for multinational pharmaceutical companies to lobby on contentious issues that are taking center stage in the struggle over the interpretation of India’s medicines patent law.”
Herbert Wamsley, the IPOA executive director, writes us that the delegation includes more than a dozen patent attorneys employed by corporations and law firms who are studying the Indian intellectual property system and exchanging information. Only a minority of the lawyers are from drug makers.
As for the meetings with judges, he says that “our policy is and always has been not to discuss any issue that is pending before a court, either by naming the case or by raising a pending issue without naming the case. This is a worldwide rule of protocol for meeting with judges.
“Meetings with courts are to discuss court procedures, case management rules and general global principles of intellectual property law, but never pending matters,” he writes.
We asked the Supreme Court and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board for comment and will update you accordingly.
Source: WSJ Phatmalot
