Mumbai, June 7 There were 17 incidents of drug seizure last year in the Netherlands on the grounds of patent-infringement and 16 of them were Indian medicine exports, says Health Action International (HAI), a Dutch network that works on increasing access to medicines.
This information, provided by the Dutch government authorities to HAI, was in response to the latter’s filing under the Freedom of Information Act, a HAI note said. The 17 seizures by Dutch authorities were on the basis of EU regulation 1383/2008 and included one consignment from China, HAI added.
German seizure
The development comes even as one more Indian drug company, Chennai-based Medopharm’s export consignment of antibiotic amoxicillin was seized on similar grounds of trademark infringement.
Only this time, the seizure happened when the goods were passing through Germany.
“We have information of about six incidents, and have taken it up with the Centre. We are urging other members who have had similar experiences, but are withholding the information for reasons best known to them, to come out with them as the Commerce Ministry is looking to take up the issue at the World Trade Organisation (WTO),” Dr P.V. Appaji, Executive Director of Pharmexcil (Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council) told Business Line.
Non-tariff barriers
In the last eight months, several Indian drug companies, including Ind-Swift, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla and Aurobindo have had their export consignments seized at Dutch ports.
Though some companies have since freed their consignments through diplomatic and legal channels, Indian pharma industry representatives protest that blocking exports being transhipped through a region to another market is tantamount to a non-tariff barrier and an abuse of the EU regulation of 2003.
For instance, medicines seized in the Netherlands were headed to Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Nigeria, HAI said, citing information provided by the Dutch authorities.
And the seized consignments comprised heart-related medicines, lifestyle drugs, dementia, schizophrenia and AIDS medicines, it added.
A note from advocacy organisations, including Oxfam International, HAI and the Third World Network said, Medopharm’s Amoxicillin shipment was headed for the Republic of Vanuatu in the Pacific, but was seized by customs officials early last month while in transit through Frankfurt, Germany.
GlaxoSmithKline is the former patent-holder on Amoxil, or branded amoxicillin. There is no valid reason for detaining these medicines especially since “Amoxicillin” is an international non-proprietary name (INN), the note added.
Medopharm’s export has since been released. But the incident proves that customs officials are not equipped to handle intellectual property related issues and should not be entrusted with enforcing them, said Mr D.G. Shah of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.
Further, drug companies whose consignments are seized are not given an opportunity to explain and there is no transparency in the conduct of this exercise, he said.
International advocacy networks have urged the European Commission to take steps to ensure that its regulations did not deny timely access to essential medicines.
Source : Business Line