India unrelenting over alleged lax IPR; may drag the USA to the WTO

A clarion call has been sounded by Indian government officials, who are unwilling to buckle under pressure from drug multinationals on intellectual property laws. Dismissing US charges over inept intellectual property rights (IPR) in the country, officials have maintained that, if push comes to shove, India would not hesitate to drag the USA to the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution mechanism, reports The Pharma Letter's India correspondent.

In a closed door meeting called for by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, secretaries of five government departments thrashed out the different ways India would address some of the alleged IPR delinquent issues being raised by certain US drug companies.

Besides Mr Seth, Health Secretary Lov Kumar Verma, Department of Pharmaceuticals Secretary Aradhana Johri, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary (DIPP) Amitabh Kant, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher, and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh had gathered to discuss a probable rollback of some of India's IPR laws. The meeting was called on the insistence of Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and S Jaishankar, India’s Ambassador to the USA.