Licensing Deal

Pharma Lobby Group Backs Granting Of Voluntary Licenses By Patent Holders To Indian Companies

October 18,2021 10:09 AM
- By Admin

"Simple waiving of patents for vaccines is not enough for increased and free availability of Vaccines in India,” it said in a statement.The IDMA said that at this point it is important to grant voluntary licenses (VL) by the patent holders to the Indian companies with sufficient expertise in this field. Pharma lobby group, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) has backed granting of voluntary licenses by the patent holders to Indian companies in a bid to boost manufacturing and make vaccines freely available in the country. "Simple waiving of patents for vaccines is not enough for increased and free availability of Vaccines in India,” it said in a statement. The IDMA said that at this point it is important to grant voluntary licenses (VL) by the patent holders to the Indian companies with sufficient expertise in this field.The example of Astra Zeneca and Serum Institute ofIndia (SII) is already a successful working model. Other Vaccine developers need to come forward and similarly transfer technology to Indian companies against reasonable Royalties,” it further said. In case of pharmaceutical products (including APIs) which are directly or indirectly used for treatment of the present Covid-19 pandemic, it said there was an urgent need for the IP rights to be waived at the worldwide level to boost their production and ensure there are no shortages anywhere in the world. “Global Pharma companies owe at least this much to mankind,” it further said. The IDMA said that the shortages of Remdesivir in India is a wake-up call. “Capacities of all medicines connected with this pandemic should be ramped up to ensure free availability at reasonable prices”. According to the pharma lobby group, WTO has provided provision of Compulsory Licensing (CL) just for tackling such an eventuality and hence the government should not wait any further in invoking the provision. “In view of the current suffering of humanity all over the world, urgent action needs to be taken by the world coming together to ensure free flow of technology till the virus is eradicated