The shortage of key drugs in the National Health Service (NHS medicines shortage putting lives at risk, pharmacists warn, 14 January) could get even worse if the UK government succeeds in actively sabotaging one of its most important sources of cheap generic medicines in a trade deal with India.
Roared on by the pharmaceutical industry, ministers have been using trade talks with India to push for agreement on new, extremely restrictive patent rules that would severely undermine its generic medicines industry. India currently supplies the NHS with around 25% of its medicines and provides even greater amounts to some lower-income countries. Yet, according to leaks from the talks, the UK is demanding that it allows firms to extend patent terms and slap new patents on slightly tweaked versions of existing drugs – reversing protections that have helped India become “the pharmacy of the world”.
