March 20, 2023
3 mins read

Clamour against UK’s FTA negotiator with India

India accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s supply of generic medicines, 62 per cent of the world’s vaccines and 80 per cent of the anti-HIV medicines used across Africa…reports Asian Lite News

Over 200 health, development and human rights groups on Sunday sought the resignation of the UK’s chief negotiator in the India-UK Free Trade Agreement talks, objecting to his former pharmaceutical industry ties that they claim could undermine India’s capacity to produce inexpensive generic drugs.

The groups, from India and nearly 40 other countries, said the appointment of the current chief negotiator, Harjinder Kang, who had previously worked with a pharmaceutical company for nearly three decades, “runs counter to the need for impartiality and independence”. The groups have, in a joint letter to UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, also expressed concern about a leaked chapter from the proposed FTA that they said appeared to represent “a wish list” of the pharmaceutical industry.

The proposals include closing the right to challenge purportedly unjustified patents on medicines before they are granted, extending monopoly patents beyond 20 years and watering down transparency on the status of patent applications.

India accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s supply of generic medicines, 62 per cent of the world’s vaccines and 80 per cent of the anti-HIV medicines used across Africa. The proposed changes to patent rules can affect access to medicines in developing countries and the world at large, the groups said in their letter, also sent to India’s trade and commerce minister Piyush Goyal.

“The measures which the UK is now trying to force through would damage India’s generic medicines industry and make essential drugs harder to access in the UK and globally,” said Tim Bierley, pharma campaigns manager with Global Justice Now, a UK-based non-government agency.

The groups said India’s current patent rules allow for a balance between commercial interests and public health needs while fully adhering to the World Trade Organisation’s rules. India has developed an ecosystem of reserving patents for genuinely new compounds while ensuring timely generic competition on which global health relies, they said.

K.M. Gopakumar, a lawyer and researcher with the Third World Network, a platform tracking global trade and health issues, said that if the UK succeeded in imposing its intellectual property demands, India’s generic drug manufacturing capacity “will be hamstrung”.

The demand for the resignation follows earlier opposition to any inclusion of strict intellectual property provisions in the FTA. In December, 35 British and Indian health organisations had cautioned that the UK National Health Service drug prices were under threat from the FTA. Generic competition, primarily from India, has helped slash the prices of standard anti-HIV drugs by 99 per cent, from more than $10,000 in the year 2000 to less than $100 today, enabling a scale-up of global treatment to cover over 28 million people. Leading global health organisations, including the Global Fund and Unicef, too rely heavily on Indian generic drugs, the groups said.

The signatories to the letter include the People’s Health Movement, Third World Network, Knowledge Ecology International, Health Global Access Project, and health and patients’ rights groups from Asia, Africa, South America, Canada, the UK and the US.

ALSO READ-‘Attack on Indian High Commission unacceptable’

Previous Story

‘Attack on Indian High Commission unacceptable’

Next Story

China condemns British lawmakers’ visit to Taiwan

Latest from -Top News

Trump Warns Musk: ‘Close Shop or Go Home’

Trump’s warning on his Truth Social platform late on Tuesday (US time) came amid the feud between him and Musk over the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’….reports Asian Lite News Former US President

India-US Trade Deal Likely This Week

The interim trade deal would be an initial step towards a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement between Indian and the US….reports Asian Lite News India is expected to finalise an interim trade

One Year Later, Hasina’s Son Raises Red Flag

Hasina’s abrupt exit last August after violent student protests was widely seen as a blow to democracy in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million….reports Asian Lite News Sajeeb Wazed, son of former

Global South Finds Its Campus in India

The question is no longer if India can attract global talent, but whether it can build the conditions to do so at scale—with care and vision. Done right, India could emerge as

Jaishankar Gets Real on India-US Ties

The EAM underlined the structural drivers of the bilateral relationship, saying, “The trend line over the last 25 years has actually been very strong….reports Asian Lite News External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
Go toTop

Don't Miss

BA official on the run in India over £3 mn visa racket

“He exploited a loophole knowing that immigration checks are no

‘Mauritius Key for Indian Investment in Africa’

Dhananjay Ramful said India and Mauritius are reorienting their relationship