Recently, the Apex court of India rejected the
patent application of Novartis’s anti-cancer drug Gleevec
(http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/landmark-verdict-gives-big-boost-to-cancer-patients/article4569056.ece?homepage=true)
As per Indian law "ever-greening" of
the drugs is not encouraged whereas the big pharma companies keep on doing
minor modifications to gain longer patent life in the US and other Western
countries. This judgment therefore is in the right direction as it
clearly defines what "innovation" is in the Indian drug market
context and will give hope to millions of poor patients not only in India but
across the world.
But, I also have a point against the Indian
pharma industry which is mostly focused on 'generics'. Indian pharma industry
is not too keen on developing new drugs (NCEs) and is looking for major profits
once the old drugs come off patent. This is not a healthy trend. Also, the
amount being charged by these companies on these drugs can be slashed even more
as they have not spent even a penny for the development of these drugs and so
there is no point in even charging what they are right now for these drugs!!!
Of course, the above point holds true for NCEs
but may not hold true for Biologics!. Biosimilars are a different ball game all
together and it would be interesting to see what the future holds for the
Indian pharma industry which is betting heavily on generics and biosimilars!
Finally, this verdict is definitely good for the
patients and may be also good for the Indian pharma industry in the short run
but I feel Indian pharma and Biotech industry need to innovate more and come
out of the “profit making with minimal investment mindset"!
Everything that is mentioned here also applies to our higher education system. Pharma industry should draw a parallel with our education system and if successful in coming out of this rot could be a torchbearer to our education industry.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. It is a pity to not to find any interest by pharma/Biotech companies on campus placements for high quality researchers in premier institutes like IISc!
DeleteThe concept of University spinoffs and start-ups is missing in India at the moment!
I think this is a multifaceted issue. You have people with money (notice how I am refraining from using the word investors) who lack the will or imagination or perhaps even resources to want to invest in a long time project as most pharma and biotech spin offs require. Long incubation time that is.
ReplyDeleteSecondly in every place the proportion of innovation that can be even started as spin off is fractional of the total volume of innovation, let alone successful spin offs. The volume of innovation I think has not reached that critical mass for investors to take biotech out from academia seriously yet. Hopefully that will change but I am not sure if that change is imminent just yet. I would like to be wrong.