Cabinet to take up patents bill on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet is set to take the patents amendment bill, primarily meant for introduction of product patents in pharma and agro chemical industries on Wednesday.

While government sources maintain that some significant provisions in the interest of the domestic industry has been freshly incorporated in the bill, industry officials are apprehensive that the bill that is going to the cabinet has not addressed their concerns.

The bill was originally drafted by the previous NDA government. Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath today discussed the bill with drug industry bodies Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association and Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.

“We think that bill has not changed from the previous version.We are concerned about the dropping of provision for pre-grant opposition of patents and the unclear definition of patentability in the bill,� said DG Shah, secretary-general, IPA.

The government has an obligation under the TRIPS agreement of the WTO to introduce product patents in pharma before 1 January 2005. It plans to introduce the bill in the current session of the parliament and get it passed in the Winter Session.