The Indian pharmaceutical industry has urged the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), to remove India from its Priority Watch List (PWL) of countries having lax patent laws, which harm interests of the US drug companies.
In a letter to the USTR, the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), a grouping of 20 leading drug companies accounting for over 60 per cent of drug exports, said USTR should review its 2016 Special 301 Report and observations on India. The report also alleges that Indian companies deny adequate and effective protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to the US pharmaceutical industry, which relies on intellectual property protection.
IPA noted that India has improved its IPR environment in the last two years, through dialogue and consultation as well as adoption of the National IPR Policy, quadrupling of patent examiners and consistent judicial enforcement, in accordance with Indian law.
(Reference: http://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/pharma/indian-pharma-asks-us-to-exclude-india-from-list-of-ipr-offenders/story/246151.html)
