The Hindu Business Line : India left out of 6-nation pact for low-cost AIDS drugs

A LANDMARK six-nation agreement inked at the recent Bangkok AIDS conference to facilitate production and better access to low-cost anti-AIDS drugs seems to have left India sitting out on the bench.

"Thailand, Brazil, China, the Russian Federation, Nigeria and Ukraine have formed a network to endorse the enforcement of health and access-related provisions of the Doha Declaration. Generic versions of these drugs would be made by and for the population of these six countries," a representative from an Indian organisation working on health-issues, told Business Line.

Having participated in the Bangkok conference, the representative added, India and South Africa are expected to join the alliance later. "Negotiations on this pact started last September and reports in Thailand say that different synergies will be at work - since China is capable of supplying chemicals for the production of generic drugs and the Russian Federation was equipped with technology for medical diagnosis," he added.

"But India should have been at the forefront of such initiatives, given that our companies like Ranbaxy and Cipla are supplying low-cost anti-AIDS drugs to global agencies and markets. By not being part of the alliance, India has missed the bus in terms of solidarity with developing countries, collective bargaining and paving the way for Indian drug companies," the representative said.

For instance, the Clinton Foundation promised to "collectively bargain for India and China" to get at lower prices, machines that monitor blood-count.

"A multinational drug company can negotiate with the new alliance to supply patented drugs or technology and here is where Indian drug companies lose out. They could have supplied the drugs or helped in production," the health representative said.

Confirming the development, Mr D.G. Shah, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), said that the significance of India being part of the alliance is that it could have played an influential role in future global trade-related negotiations regarding drug patents and access to medicines.

"Considering that India put health on the agenda of the Doha Declaration, we should have been part of the alliance," said Mr Shah, who also participated in the Bangkok conference.

Meanwhile, the IPA has sent a letter to the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, on the issue. "The good news is that China and Russia, which hitherto have been silent on the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health are endorsing the enforcement of major provisions of the Doha Declaration. The bad news is that the development of alternative sources of supply would put greater pressure on the Indian pharmaceutical industry," the letter said.

A clutch of Indian drug companies had only last year struck a deal with the Clinton Foundation to supply anti-AIDS drugs at $139 per year.