Pharma Sector Litigation Thriving in India

A leading attorney has said that India is a "hip and happening country" when it comes to litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. "I can definitely say that India is a happening country in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological sector. People are looking at India as a hip and happening country in these sectors. Lot of litigations and decisions are coming out in India in these sectors," said Sanchita Ganguly of S. Majumdar and Co. at the national conference on 'Intellectual Property (IP) Rights: Meeting IP Challenges' organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

According to her, the pharmaceutical sector is "catching up" and the government, courts and intellectual property authorities putting in their effort to protect public interest.

"The government, courts and IP bodies, in their effort to protect public interest, are trying to bring down the price of the medicines from astronomical range to a lower range," said Ganguly.

Speaking on the current trend of bio-pharmaceuticals or biologically derived drugs, M. Padmavati, associate professor in intellectual property law at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, said they form a major component of pharmaceuticals.

"Bio-drugs are major component of pharmaceuticals. Half of the world's drugs in the market are replaced by recombinant drugs or bio-drugs," said Padmavati.

Source-IANS