Generic drugs are only source of deliverance for most people

When the Government of India recently authorised an Indian pharmaceutical company to manufacture the generic version of a cancer drug owned and patented by a multinational giant, it unleashed a host of angry responses from those whose commercial interests would be affected by this move.

It was the proverbial battle between the patent and the patient. In this case, the Centre’s intervention may be justified as the branded foreign drug was sold at a price beyond the reach of a majority of patients in this country.

Whereas, if the drug was licensed to an Indian company, tens of thousands of kidney and liver cancer victims would benefit by paying a small fraction of the original price. And, the original manufacturer would still have thousands of wealthy patients willing to pay the Rs 2.8 lakh that was charged for the brand name alone. The very magnitude of the Indian pharmaceutical market should enthuse foreign drug manufacturers to show a little magnanimity in this regard.

When the Indian Patent’s Act was passed in 1970, the pharmaceutical companies in the country began to modify the existing drugs to produce their generic counterparts. They were able to market these drugs at one third the original cost. Not only did such medicines help patients in this country, but they became popular in several others as well.

Indian manufactured drugs and vaccines are used today by several nations. They are sought by third world countries to fight deadly ailments. The rising healthcare costs in those countries have made patients turn to India for effective and affordable medicines.

Renowned the world over as the third largest international producer of generics, India exports $10 billion worth of medicines and vaccines every year to developed and developing countries. More than 80 per cent of the HIV-AIDS drug used in the world is made in India. We have virtually become the world’s most popular pharmacy, supplying inexpensive life saving drugs across the globe.

But, we have also courted the displeasure of global giants whose brands ruled the market earlier. Not surprisingly, prominent western drug manufacturers, whose business had slowed down in America and Europe these last two years, and who started eying third world countries as an amazing emerging market for their products, are frustrated and indignant that the medicines they have developed after years of intensive clinical research should be replicated and sold at cheaper rates to cut into their profits.

‘Copy cat’ procedure

They argue that the price of a drug should reflect its developing cost rather than the purchasing power of the patient. Clinical research is a painstaking and prolonged process, involving study, money and manpower. Whereas, a ‘copy cat’ procedure is cheaper and easier to produce. By resorting to the latter modus operandi, they feel India has stolen their market in drug making.

Advocates of  poor patients, however, think differently. While the efforts in developing path breaking medicines are highly commendable, the profit motives behind those efforts cannot be denied. Has any multinational pharmaceutical giant invested in money and manpower out of sheer altruism? Sure, their medicines have saved lives.

But, the very fact that their business thrives on the pain and suffering of sick persons makes it a commercial venture that has exploited the best avenue for expanding a business empire.

Social activists including doctors feel that pharmacy is one business where the motivation for profit needs to be tempered with humanity. If the purchasing power of the patient is of no consequence, then the very raison d’etre of the manufacturing company is of no ethical value.

Why, even the US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of generic drug companies in public interest saying that they have every right to seek patents with the federal government in that country just as brand drug makers do in order to help the sick and needy.

While defendants of intellectual property rights may support the cause of the major pharmaceutical companies in the world arguing that ‘copying’ medicines may stifle innovative research in this field, doctors who work in third world countries among the world’s poorest patients certainly do not subscribe to this viewpoint.

The pain of sickness is the same for rich and poor. If the rich can afford costly medicare, the poor need to have alternate remedies. They cannot be denied treatment. If an organisation like Doctors Without Borders can treat patients unconditionally, multinational drug makers can do their bit too since they have entered into the painful world of disease and its treatment. If they cannot forego some of their profits, the least they can do is allow others to make the same medicines more accessible to all.

Fortunately, courts in India have permitted generic drug makers to make their versions of certain life saving cancer remedies like Tarceva which sells in this country for a whopping Rs 75,000 for a box of ten tablets. Such a ridiculously inflated profit margin makes it virtually impossible for a dying patient to be treated with this magic drug. In such blatant cases of exploitation, generic medicare seems the only deliverance for sickness — in this country and elsewhere.