If the generic pharmaceutical companies in India are to forced to raise costs due to increased pressure from the European intellectual property rights laws, the cost of medicine is going to sky rocket. While the EU-India free trade deal seeks to increase the market accessibility and trade volume between these two regions, the implications of this deal on public health throughout the developing world is dire.
Besides providing relatively inexpensive drugs to the population rich Indian market, these Indian companies also export cheaper yet effective substitute to other developing countries in Asia and Africa. This deal is EU-India on paper only, its implication will be felt by a lot of countries.
The rise in cost of drugs means people will have to delegate more of their income to the purchase of medicines. With the price of food already rising this could be a burden not many shoulders can bare.
Is it time for other countries to put diplomatic pressure on the Indian government to do the right thing. What is the rationale behind providing big pharmaceutical companies such easy access to your markets even though the risk to the Indian public(and others) are so high? Who benefits from this deal?
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