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The Rediff Business Interview/ Professor C Kokate

'Under the patents regime, exclusive marketing rights won't impact India adversely'

For a boy who was born in one of the most backward districts of India -- Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh -- Professor Chandrakant Kokate, president of the Pharmacy Council of India, has come a long way.

As the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors seek to globalise and corporatise operations, Professor Kokate advocates parallel preservation, protection and gradual improvement of traditional systems of Indian medicines like ayurveda, siddha, naturopathy. He said as much while addressing the 50th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress and 17th Asian Congress of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Bombay last week. According to him, these traditional systems provide healthcare at an affordable cost, unlike other ''modern methods''.

Chris Ann Fichardo quizzed Professor Kokate about India's outlook in the patents era.

It is feared the exclusive marketing rights that the patents bill seeks to offer to foreign pharmaceutical companies in India from 2005, may shift production priorities from essential drugs to more sophisticated, costly drugs.

EMRs are certainly not going to have a serious effect on drugs available to us at present. Only after 2005, when the patent regime begins, we may have to pay more for the drugs patented elsewhere in the world.

But there is also a possibility that Indian discovered drugs can also fetch very good foreign currency after 2005. If we cope with the challenges in the next 4 or 5 years, we would do very well.

It is likely that some formulations not required for day-to-day purpose, for example cosmetics, multi-vitamin tablets, etc, are bound to become costlier. But only a select few will be able to afford these drugs anyway. So I don't think EMRs will impact India adversely. Let me, however, add that essential drugs should be protected well.

Are Indian pharmaceutical companies spending sufficient funds on research and development?

Indian pharmaceutical companies spend around 3 to 5 per cent of their total turnover on R&D, which is very little. Companies in the United States spend around 18 per cent of their total turnover. In other developed countries, the spend is around 8-12 per cent. So we need to step up investments in R&D. Even with our meagre spend, we can come out with good results, provided a consolidated, concerted effort is made.

In India, pharmaceutical companies spend around Rs 4 to 5 billion on R&D. (Since we are nowhere near the standards of the US and other developed countries) we have to ensure that there is a consolidation of research and no duplication. Indian pharmaceutical companies should have a continuous dialogue for consolidating each other's research efforts so that something fruitful comes out of the combined but low-investment research.

Threat perception regarding India's biodiversity and biopiracy of traditional systems is intensifying.

India needs to have a well-consolidated and co-oriented policy for utilising the natural wealth available to her. We have to develop formulations with perfect quality control parameters so that they are developed worldwide. There is a tremendous source of income that will come from our natural resources.

But India and other developing countries have to bring pressure on the WTO to take up the biopiracy issue. We have to protect our natural wealth. We almost lost turmeric sometime back, it came back to us thanks to the efforts of our scientists. Now there is a threat to tulsi. Many of our natural plants are likely to face biopiracy. Political pressure has to be brought on the WTO to ensure that no extra benefit is derived from biopiracy by developed countries.

Do you think the Indian pharma companies are gearing up for the post-patents era?

Acceptance of product patents has already picked up in our country. Indian pharma companies have realised that patents are a fact, a reality, and that they have to change. Companies like Dr Reddy's, Ranbaxy, Cipla Pharmaceutical and Cipla Healthcare have started re-shaping their research efforts. They have already adopted a strategy that is required to meet the challenges of the next millennium. Others should follow suit.

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