U.S. fears for patents on next-generation drugs in India

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U.S. fears for patents on next-generation drugs in India

By Douglas Busvine and Zeba Siddiqui NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday voiced concern over protection of patents on safer and more effective next-generation medicines in India amid fears that authorities are considering allowing more Indian firms to make new varieties of cheap generic drugs still on patent. An Indian committee is reviewing up to a dozen patented drugs to see if so-called compulsory licenses, which in effect break exclusivity rights, can be issued for some of them, two senior government officials said last month. "I understand that India has issued one compulsory license, but there's a lot of concern about what additional licenses are being considered," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal told reporters in the Indian capital. "There's concern about ... whether next-generation drugs would be protected, and how do you ensure that investments that are being made to develop ever-more effective drugs can then be continued." In 2012, India issued its first-ever compulsory license to domestic drugmaker Natco Pharma Ltd on a kidney and liver cancer drug, Nexavar, patented by Germany's Bayer AG.

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