Title: India's new patent regime: aiding 'access' or abetting 'genericide'?

Authors: Shamnad Basheer

Addresses: Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, 2000 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20052, USA

Abstract: This paper considers the impact of the new Indian patent regime on the important issue of access to affordable drugs. Access is dependent, in part, on the ability of generic manufacturers to produce cheap generic drugs. Working with the bird flu patent example, this paper will demonstrate that far from abetting |genericide|, the new regime provides adequate legal windows to aid the continued production of affordable generics. However, the mere existence of such windows/flexibilities is not enough – generic manufacturers will only exploit such windows when it is economically and politically viable to do so.

Keywords: India; patents; pharmaceuticals; generic drugs; access to medicines; public health; bird flu; compulsory licensing; TRIPS; affordable drugs; Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2007.013047

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2007 Vol.9 No.2, pp.122 - 137

Published online: 06 Apr 2007 *

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