With new drug discoveries less common and blockbusters increasingly a rarity, it’s natural that the so-called originator drug industry (pharma companies whose business model used to be making quick, mega bucks from patented drugs) is at its manipulative best.

The latest to be beguiled by the Big Pharma seems to be the office of India’s Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). According to reports, DCGI is considering linking regulatory approval of medicines to their patent status.

Simply put, this means the DCGI would deny marketing approval to a ‘generic applicant’ if the product is already ‘patented’ in India and the patent hasn’t expired. Cursorily, DCGI’s statement would sound innocuous as also morally and procedurally right.

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