India has lodged a complaint to the UN intellectual property rights body, that some multinational firms have launched a campaign against the country's pharmaceutical industry.The Commerce and Industry Minister Mr.Anand Sharma informed , the Director General of Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation, WIPO, in New Delhi that some international companies are still misleading the people on generic drugs.The minister pointed out that the Indian Pharma industry has brought down the treatment cost for HIV/ AIDS from 11,000 US Dollars to just 400 Dollars annually.Earlier, addressing an international conference on Innovations and Intellectual Property rights , Mr. Sharma said India has finalised an agreement on traditional knowledge digital library (TKDL) with the US and expressed the hope that it will be signed soon. TKDL provides information on traditional knowledge existing in the country, in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at International Patent Offices.
News On AIR | November 12, 2009 10:04 AM
MNCs working against Indian Pharma Industry, Sharma tells WIPO head