A TABLET A DAY: THE EFFECT OF ESCHEWMENT OF COMPULSORY LICENSING IN PHARMACEUTICALS ON THE INDIAN POOR

Abstract

Martin Luther King Junior said, "of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane". 

In a move that (if reports are correct) can be reasonably expected to have far reaching implications on social healthcare in India, the Indian government is said to have „privately reassured‟ the US- India Business Council that it would no longer make use of compulsory licensing in the pharmaceutical industry. While the Indian government was quick to move into what is ostensibly damage-control mode, even the mere possibility of the truth of such a statement is beyond horrifying.  

Through the course of this paper, I shall attempt to analyze the impact of assured non-use of compulsory licensing in the pharmaceutical industry on India‟s poor. I shall begin with a short history and definition of compulsory licensing in India, and then move onto briefly speculating as to the veracity of the reports of the supposed assurance by the Indian government. Having established a context to this essay, I will then move onto an analysis of the same, taking into account income statistics, medication prices (specifically two medicines: Sorafenib Tosylate and Saxagliptin), and related law on the subject of intellectual property. I will then attempt to draw conclusions from this, and conclude with my recommendations to resolve the conflict between affordable healthcare and the success of the pharmaceutical industry.