'Generics Advocates Blast UK Patent Proposals in UK-India Trade Deal', 24 August 2023

A letter sent to the United Kingdom’s International Business and Trade Secretary today urged scrapping proposals that health groups say would undermine the generic medicines industry in India.

The letter refers to a leaked document that indicates the UK will be asking India to agree to a number of patent provisions as the two countries negotiate a trade deal today.

More than 120 health and development organizations from low and middle-income countries signed the letter and urged the Secretary, as well as the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for International Trade, and the Minister of State for Development and Africa “to change course and drop the UK’s demands for stricter intellectual property provisions as part of any trade deal with India.” A similar letter was sent to the Secretary last November.

The health groups singled out the following provisions of the leaked document in particular: a requirement for patent term extension; a data exclusivity term of six years; eligibility for new patents covering a “a new medical use for a known substance or composition”; and the removal of “pre-grant patent oppositions” in India...