NEW DELHI: India has asked Kenya to make changes in its anti-counterfeit law passed last year that could label generic drugs exported by Indian
companies to the country illegal, arguing that such laws could be counter-productive as it would affect supply of cheap but high quality medicines to the African people , a government official has said.
The Kenyan legislation lays down that all generics will be treated as counterfeits and rejected in case a patent holder in a third country files a dispute.
The commerce department has also recently held meetings with senior officials from other African countries that import medicines from India such as Uganda, Nigeria and Tanzania which are, reportedly , contemplating passing similar legislations. “The commerce department has written a letter to the Kenyan government asking for an amendment of the legislation,” an official, who requested not to be named, told ET.
Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar also held meetings with officials from African countries last month in Geneva who have assured that they would not take any step that could affect supply of generics from India, the official added.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry , which supplies nearly 15% of its total exports of more than Rs 30,000 crore annually to Africa, is understandably concerned about the developments in the continent and blames global pharma biggies for it.
According to Cipla, one of the largest exporter of drugs in the African market, global innovator companies were attempting to stop export of legitimate Indian drugs to Africa through a smear campaign. “Kenya is a fairly large market for us,” Amar Lulla joint MD, Cipla, said pointing out that if similar legislation was adopted by other African countries under the influence of global MNCs, export of India’s drugs to African countries will be under threat.
Sharing similar concerns, Ramesh Adige, president, corporate affairs & global corporate communications at Ranbaxy, said the new anti-counterfeit act in Kenya can be used to outlaw generics at the whim of patent-holders , thereby depriving the Kenyan population access to affordable generic medicines.
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