Indian Pharma: Balancing Patent Rights and Obligations

The ICTSD is carrying an analysis of the post-TRIPS generic pharmaceutical sector in India (there is also a report on Thailand). For a mere industry analysis the report has little new to offer, as a previous report by the CDS has already offered a more extensive analysis.
However, it is an extremely lucid case study that [...]

Novartis Challenges Indian Patent Law

I seem to have missed this. Since May, Novartis has been involved in a legal challenge to India’s Patent Act, which was changed in 2005 to make it TRIPS compliant (see Berne Declaration release for timeline, and coverage from IPMed).
The genesis of the issue is the rejection of Novartis’ patent application for its anti-cancer drug [...]

TRIPS-plus and Public Health

Oxfam has released a report reviewing the patent and public health landscape 5 years after the Doha Decleration, titled, Patents versus Patients. The report is clear in its conclusion, and its criticism of the USA in particular:
Trade rules remain a major barrier to accessing affordable versions of patented medicines (generic medicines)…The USA, at the behest [...]

The Spread of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

The developed world is getting worried about Tuberculosis. About time.
TB killed an estimated 1.7 million people in 2004 (see WHO factsheet). An estimated third of the world’s population is suspected to be currently infected, with new infections every second. But if the numbers weren’t worrying enough, the fact that medicines no longer are working should [...]

US Pharma Industry Report

Greg Mankiw’s blog alerted me to a report by the US Congressional Budget Office on the Pharmaceutical Industry.
It is certainly worth a read, and tries really hard to appear unbiased, presenting facts from both the supporters and critics of the industry. Every now and then, however, it dismisses the criticisms too quickly.
Regardless, I like how [...]

The Indian Pharma Industry - Where to Next?

Alex pointed me to a recent working paper on the Indian pharma industry: The Sectoral System of Innovation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry by the CDS. Since the Indian patent laws were revised to become TRIPS complaint in 2005, there has been much speculation on how the industry would progress. This paper has some important clues.

Bookmark:

The US Pharma Industry

Even as I was writing about problems of the pharmaceutical industry - in the context of R&D for developing world diseases - I come across two broader issues about the US.
First, Alex pointed me to Marcia Angell, a Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her book, The Truth About the Drug Companies: [...]

The Failure of Pharmaceutical R&D: Policy & Markets (4/4)

This is the conclusion of a 4 part series (Read part 1, part 2, part 3).
Global pharmaceutical R&D has failed, and continues to fail, the world’s poor. The reason is simple. Investments in R&D follow potential drug sales. This is the underlying logic of the 10/90 gap, explains why drug development in neglected diseases takes [...]