Groups Critical of India on Patent (WTO orders shut down generic drugs)

Indian and international aid groups on Monday slammed a proposed overhaul of the country's patent laws, saying it would end production of cheap generic drugs and threaten the survival of cancer and AIDS patients in the developing world.

India's government on Friday introduced legislation that would tighten patent laws to bring them in line with World Trade Organization rules. The bill will be debated in Parliament in the coming weeks to meet a WTO deadline of early 2005 for the changes.

"The life and health of hundreds of thousands of people globally depends on decisions taken in India this week," Ellen 't Hoen of the Paris-based medical aid group Doctors Without Borders told reporters in Bombay.


India's pharmaceutical industry is worth US$5 billion (euro3.7 billion) annually and the country is among several, including Brazil and Thailand, that make cheap generic drugs. Indian companies supply low-cost AIDS drugs to Africa, Asia and Latin America.

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2005/03/21/ap1895993.html

or contract. Just ignore it.

the law. Now it is up to the people of India to see if they can stop this atrocity.

copying drugs at a cheap price so they can actually treat the AIDs of millions rather than letting them die?

I love it how some things are externalities and have nothing to do with the corporations (like environmental damage) but poor people making your drugs somewhere where you would never be able to sells them..to save lives... NOW THAT IS STEALING!!