Generic drugs and the law in India
A week or so ago, the Supreme Court of India, in a landmark case, ruled against the extension of copyright protections for pharmaceutical compositions that involve only minimal changes from their original patents. It used an important section in current intellectual property (IP) law to determine that slight deviations in the composition of drugs do not warrant new patent protections in the absence of any significant improvement in efficacy or change in overall constitution. The ruling was hailed as a much-need fillip in the fight for greater access to affordable medicines and celebrated by civil society activists and generic drug companies alike as an affirmation of the right of patients to seek affordable, life-saving alternatives to expensive drugs. Two perspectives emerged in the mainstream media after the landmark judgment: the pharmaceutical company involved in the litigation called the verdict an affront to innovation in medical research, while others, particularly groups repre