Generic Drug Industry in India: The Counterfeit Spin

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"> Generic drugs are marketed after the expiry of patent or marketing rights of the patented drug and are available at an affordable price. The generic drugs are also approved by the respective controlling authority of a country as innovative drugs with regard to efficacy, bioavailability, etc. However, recently World Health Organization (WHO) provided a definition for ‘counterfeit drugs’ which covered generic drugs under its warp. Considering the representation from India and other South East Asian nations, WHO has put defining counterfeit drugs on hold, while agreeing to modify the same in their favour. This paper analyses various aspects of generic and counterfeit drugs and the likely impact of the WHO definition on the Indian pharmaceutical industry. It also critically evaluates recent seizures of shipments of generic drugs by EU under a WTO TRIPS regime based on the premise of free trade. </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>