As the dust starts settling over the Novartis drug patent issue, the harsh reality of healthcare system is brought to the fore. It is time to introspect on why medical treatment burns a hole in the patient’s pocket. Abysmal healthcare spends by the Government, unreliable health insurance machinery and the absence of stimulus that encourages research to take on local diseases are some of the areas of grim concern.
It was indeed laudable that after technically evaluating the merits of the patent claim, the landmark judgement stood by for innovation as defined by Indian Patents Act. The Court ruled that the drug did not show an inventive step or improved efficacy to opt for patent protection. The decision was seen as the right step in the interest of public health but issues remain.
It is an unfortunate scene in the present times that while the Courts take care of interest of the people, Government and industry fail to meet the expectations. Health sector experts are critical of the fact that the Government spending on healthcare is a measly one per cent of GDP, which is hardly an amount as compared to the 10 per cent that the developed nations spend.
Pharma experts say that if a medicine is beyond the reach of the patients at Rs one lakh a month then even the pared down price of `10,000 a month is out of bounds for many in India. Watering down the exuberation over the court judgement is the fact that the experts say that if there is no original research then there would be no medicine to be copied. The Government, indeed, has to step in and support massive healthcare programmes even as it facilitates an environment to encourage research.
In this context, healthcare experts point out that the country needs a transparent procurement system to purchase drugs at subsidised cost and give it free to patients. Most of the pharma companies would be willing to participate in Government programmes, if they were transparent and did not blindly follow the lowest priced drug syndrome.
Unlike the developed nations, there is no system where research from Government institutions and labs gets picked up and commercialised by industry. Experts say that it really needs to be figured out that why this commercialisation is not happening. Is it because there is no innovative work coming out of the labs here or the industry is not supportive, is a major area of concernIJ
The need of the hour, as experts suggest, is to have research alliances between local companies, Government labs and foreign companies, which will push innovation and help new, affordable drugs to be brought into India . We need to fund healthcare innovation and not make patients pay through their nose for falling sick. One judgement is not enough to purge the healthcare system suffering from innumerable maladies.