Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories Snubbed By Indian PM After Generics Scuffle
September 30, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Two of the world’s largest international pharmaceutical firms in India did not get a seat at the breakfast table with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he met with other industry leaders on Monday, a sign that the Indian government will not be cowed by vocal, well-funded global opponents of the nation’s championing of generic drugs.
Abbott and Pfizer rank in the top 10 American drug companies in India, according to AIOCD-AWACS, which lists drug companies based on their sales in India. But neither were present at Monday’s meeting, which was pointedly invitation only.
Market watchers have speculated Pfizer may have been left out because it has recently voiced serious concerns about Indian’s push into generic drugs—and a widely nonchalant attitude towards other nation’s intellectual property parameters.
"There should have been more efforts by both the Indian side to reach out to leading pharma companies like Pfizer to address their concerns and the leading global MNCs could have also tried to reach out to the Indian prime minister to bring their concerns to his notice," says Kewal Handa, former managing director of Pfizer India, who now runs health-care advisory firm Salus Lifecare, told Business Insider.
Countering that concern, but declining to comment on what companies were not included and their concerns, D.G. Shah, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), said, "Only a sober face of US branded pharma was invited to the breakfast meeting."
In the past, Pfizer’s concerns have been significant and vocal, and Roy Waldron, chief intellectual property counsel for Pfizer, has led the charge.
"Experience accumulated after India began granting product patents in 2005 shows it has routinely flouted trade rules to bolster the Indian generic industry at the expense of innovators," Waldron told a the U.S. Congressional Committee on Ways and Means in March 2013.
"The government of India has essentially created a protectionist regime that harms U.S. job creators,” said Waldron at the time. “The harm is evident in pharmaceuticals where the United States has welcomed Indian generic companies while India is closing its borders to U.S. innovators. Correcting India's protectionist intellectual property regime will require firm leadership by the United States in international organizations and in India."