-The Indian Express Government privileges the private over the public, preferring trade to health In a dramatic development, US industry groups recently claimed the Indian government offered them a “private” assurance that compulsory licences will not be issued, save in emergencies and for non-commercial purposes. Needless to state, such an assurance flies in the face of the Patents Act and the public health safeguards enshrined in it. Illustratively, Section 84 mandates that...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: International humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres has filed an application to block US pharmaceutical company Pfizer from obtaining a patent in India for a vaccine against pneumonia and allow Indian vaccine manufacturers to make low-cost versions. The patent opposition moved by MSF has claimed that Pfizer's patent application, which describes methods of conjugating 13 serotypes (strains) of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae into a single carrier vaccine, does not...

-AP New Delhi: Doctors Without Borders has challenged Pfizer’s application for an Indian patent for its pneumonia vaccine so cheaper versions can be available to children in poor countries and to humanitarian organisations. The medical aid group, also known as Medicins Sans Frontieres, said in a statement late on Friday that it was challenging Pfizer’s patent application to allow Indian manufacturers to make affordable versions of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. If Pfizer is...

-IndiaSpend Agro-Companies growing crops are allowed the same tax relief as individuals in states levying no agricultural income tax Mt Abu: It’s reasonably well known that income from agriculture attracts no tax in India. What isn’t quite as well known is that of more than 400,000 taxpayers claiming exemption for agricultural income in the assessment year 2014-15, the biggest were seed giant Kaveri Seeds—it claimed Rs 186.63 crore exemption and made a profit...

-TheWire.in The government appears bent on decisively abandoning the earlier consensus of adherence to public health goals. In what is widely being hailed as an extraordinary victory for the multinational pharmaceutical industry over the Indian government, the US-India Business Council (USIBC), in its submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), reports that the Indian government has “privately assured” the industry that it would not use compulsory licences (CLs) for commercial purposes....