Restricting Innovation is Hurting Indian Patients: USIBC's Coalition for Healthy India

India Business Council supported ‘Coalition for Healthy India’ released the findings of its report on “The Value of Incremental Pharmaceutical Innovation: Benefits for Indian Patients and Indian Business”. The report highlights and substantiates the impact of restrictive policies in India, with respect to medical and pharmaceutical innovation. The report adds a patient-centric perspective to the public discourse on IPR and drug patents and points out the positive impact that incremental innovation can have on patient care in India.

 

The CHI report notes that in the early 1990’s in India, pharmaceutical R&D as a percentage of sales jumped from 0.4% to as much as 4.8% by 2004.

By 2006, after India began to allow patents on pharmaceutical products, India’s three largest pharmaceutical firms – Dr. Reddy’s, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Ranbaxy – were investing almost 12-18% of their annual sales revenue in R&D. That’s on par with the leading global innovator firms.

 

Extending patent protection to incremental pharmaceutical innovation should encourage Indian pharmaceutical companies to expand further their investment in innovation and ultimately become major sources of new drug products for both the Indian and global markets.