Patent Law In India And The Pharmaceutical Industry

The introduction of Intellectual property rights in India turned to be a boon for the pharma industry. The pharma industry is contributing a lot to the health sector by developing new drugs in the market. Thankfully, due to the introduction of the pharmaceutical patent laws, the research and development was regulated up to a great extent and now India is also a proud member of GATT. 

When the Patents Act was introduced in 1970, the pharmaceuticals manufacturers were able to patent the manufacturing process of drugs and medicines. Later in 1994, Indian signed the GATT agreement and a number of changes occurred. Today, a pharma company need to comply with the rules of GATT and TRIPS. Failing to comply with the agreement, the company will no more be able to deal with WTO. 

Patent Law in India

The Patent Act 1970 facilitated India to enter the global trade market. The patent laws have been a significant contribution to the TRIPS agreement. For India, it took some time to implement the rules of TRIPS and things were streamlined after three amendments in the act. 

Effect of Process Patent

When the patent laws were formulated, only the process of manufacturing the drugs were patented and under this system, the drugs could not be patented. The competitors could produce the same drug by some other process and sell it in the market. With the introduction of product patent, even the products could be patented hence, securing the complete thing.

The Section 5 (1) that talked about patenting the drug manufacturing process was replaced and the product patent law was made applicable. This even included the applications used during the transitional phase. 

People were afraid that due to these patent rights, the cost of drugs would go up but that did not happen. The Indian Pharmaceutical industry adapted to the changes very well and things were streamlined very soon. The Indian Pharma companies started dominating the overall market even after the TRIPS agreement. Among the major pharmaceuticals companies, the maximum are the Indian companies. Later, the foreign companies started dealing under the name of Indian pharma companies by way of a subsidiary. 

What can be patented?

Section 2 (1) deals with the registration of patent and it says that the invention is the introduction of any new idea, knowledge or product. If any one within or outside the country has knowledge about the idea or the concept is being already sold in the market, it will be not be patented. The patent should be registered before informing about the idea to anyone. 

Nevertheless, here are some of the innovations that do not come under the category of invention:

1. A method of horticulture or agriculture
2. A presentation of Information
3. An invention whose use is against public order.
4. A process of medical treatment of animals or human beings
5. A discovery of a new property or a new use of an existing property.