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Indian drugmakers have marshalled their resources to counter negative campaigns against them in the United States.
And tasked with getting the Indian voice heard in US corridors of power, and across the country, is Washington-based India First Group under Ron Somers. Former head of the USIBC (US-India Business Council), Somers had resigned as its President in April.
Under the banner of the “Coalition for Affordable Care,” the India First Group (IFG) will look to mobilise support and counter “one of the most anti-Indian, negative advocacy campaigns ever witnessed in the two countries’ history”, the advisory firm said.
The move to “set the record straight” from an Indian perspective was precipitated by the severe criticism of the Indian drug-industry by sections of the US industry and Government representatives, over the last several months. Under fire was India’s implementation of the amended Patents Act, especially after a couple of key legal outcomes went against multinational drugmakers.
The 'Coalition’ could well be the only other instance of an Indian industry body taking its case to the US doorstep, a veteran pharma representative told Business Line , the other being Nasscom, the voice of the information-technology industry.
The latest development gains significance, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s travel calendar includes a visit to the US, possibly later this year.
Affordable coalition
With more American 'baby-boomers' requiring access to lower cost, high quality medical treatments and medicines, they join most of the world’s population – some 5 billion people – who are unable to afford even basic care, says Somers.
“The time has come to let the truth be known on Capitol Hill, in the halls of government, and across America, that Indian and U.S. manufacturers of generic drugs are producing high quality medicines at a fraction of the price of branded pharmaceuticals. Short-sighted tactics and negative campaigns may have worked to preserve market share for these special interests previously, but history is not on their side,” he added.
The 'Coalition’ includes the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, a platform for large local drugmakers including Sun Pharma, Lupin, Dr Reddy’s and Zydus, for instance. But also invited to joint the `Coalition’ are “Insurers seeking to lower costs, pension funds, large employers, doctors, healthcare professionals – essentially all generations of Americans born after 1930 who now find themselves unable to afford basic healthcare,” IFG said.
Countering criticism
This is not a trade coalition, the industry veteran clarified, adding that the 'Coalition’ sought to counter, with facts, allegations made against generic medicines. About a month ago, a US report that grades its trade partners on how they protect intellectual property rights (IPR) had left India’s low grading unchanged, although it had stopped short of a further down-grade.
IPR involves protecting data collected during research, for instance, and it has been a flashpoint between India and the US. But the criticism of India’s IP environment intensified after a couple of judgments went against pharma majors Novartis and Bayer.
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