Concerns over dilution of compulsory licensing

'Mutually agreed remuneration' could inflate costs for India: Experts

- MANU KAUSHIK & MUKESH JAGOTA

INDIA HAS LOWERED the guard against the threat of pharmaceutical patent rights undermining public health concerns by treating "voluntary licensing" route as the preferable route in the recently signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the United Kingdom (UK).

As against the compulsory licensing (CL) included in India's Patents Act, voluntary licensing allows the patent holder to grant license in exchange for an agreed-upon remuneration, often in the form of royalties.

"The parties recognise the preferable and optimal route to promote and ensure access to medicines is through voluntary mechanisms, such as voluntary licensing which may include technology transfer on mutually agreed terms," as per Article 13.6 of the CETA.

"This provision, by treating voluntary licensing as being optimal and preferable, completely undermines the use of compulsory licensing," said Abhijit Das, an expert in international trade.