Drug Patents and Affordable Treatment

The patent regime propagated during the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations, Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), is designed in a manner that it would make latest medicines prohibitively expensive for the billions vulnerable to poverty. The manner in which India has prevented this from happening makes for an interesting read. In this Economic Times article, Arvind Panagariya tells the story of PH Kurien, former Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, who took on global patents system to make very costly drug affordable for poor.