Govt to hear out US pharma companies’ patent fears – The Times of India

After months of skirmishes, the government is finally going to sit down with American pharma giants this week to hear out their concerns, a move that comes weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for the US.

Sources told TOI that commerce secretary Rajeev Kher will hold discussions with the drug companies that have been critical of India’s intellectual property rights regime, especially over the use of compulsory licensing provisions that resulted in patent rights waiver for a cancer medicine. The other area of concern is the use of provisions to deny patents to medicines on the grounds that they lack innovation.

Big Pharma had got the US government to put pressure on Indian authorities but New Delhi has refused to budge so far.

Read more – The Times of India