India's no to EFTA's data exclusivity demand to protect generic drug cos

India will continue to protect the interests of its generic drug firms and has rejected European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nations’ demand to keep “data exclusivity” as a part of the intellectual property (IP) chapter under a proposed bilateral trade deal. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that there is no free trade agreement (FTA) in which India will go against the generic drug industry. EFTA comprises Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
"They want there should be data exclusivity, but we rejected their demand. We are with our generic industry. There is no fear for the Indian generic industry (from this agreement). In fact, it is our very important objective to see that the generic drug industry flourishes,” he further added.For over a decade, India has been against the inclusion of data exclusivity provisions in FTAs to protect the interest of the domestic generic drug industry. Through data exclusivity, technical data generated by innovator companies get protection, which stops their competitors from getting cheaper versions of the medicine for a certain time period or till the innovator companies have ‘exclusivity rights’.
Even in the past, India’s discussions on IPR have been a contentious issue in FTA negotiations with countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom (UK) and trade blocs such as the European Union (EU), stated report.The Commerce Secretary’s comment will come as a relief for the Indian generic industry especially because the country is in advanced stages of negotiating an FTA with the UK and is also carrying on parallel talks with the EU. Both want India to go beyond the commitments made in the multilateral TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) agreement and grant more concessions to pharma biggies.

(Ira Singh, Asstt Editor, Gandhinagar)