Lalitpur, July 26
Association of Pharmaceutical Producers of Nepal
(APPON) has said that the patent registration process for pharmaceutical
companies in Nepal was complex and cumbersome.
The government needs to simplify the process in
order to promote innovation and business growth, said Prajwal Jung Pandey, president
of the association at a workshop on 'Preparedness of Nepal’s pharmaceutical
sector in the face of LDC graduation' organised by South Asia Watch on Trade,
Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and Third World Network (TWN) on Tuesday.
He also said that Nepal has not been able to
effectively grab the benefits provided to the LDCs.
According to him, in the face of LDC graduation,
private sectors, along with the government, need to move ahead in a
collaborative manner to ensure that transition is smooth.
Dr. Prativa Pandey, Executive Committee Member,
Intellectual Property Protection Society Nepal (IPPSON), said that there were
gaps in ecosystem, innovation and standards. She emphasised that research and
development (R&D) ecosystem should be strengthened in order to facilitate
innovation.
“As a civil
society, we need to increase the capacity of the government in strengthening R&D,"
she said.
However, Dr. Shiva Prasad Shrestha, Senior Vice
President, Nepal Medical Association, lamented that Nepal’s pharmaceutical
companies are limited to producing basic drugs rather than complex and
life-saving drugs.
He also stated that unless the government accords
effective protection to domestic producers, Nepal’s pharmaceutical sector would
face a difficult time.
In the workshop, experts discussed the challenges facing
by Nepali pharmaceutical industry in the context of new intellectual property
regime after Nepal’s graduation from the least-developed country (LDC) status
and they identified the major policy and institutional challenges for the
optimal use of Trade Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) flexibilities,
and suggested way forward.
Dr. Posh Raj Pandey, chairperson of SAWTEE, suggested
that Nepal could still avail different flexibilities even after the graduation,
immediately during the transition phase and later as a developing countries too
while strengthening the capacity of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers.
K.M. Gopakumar, Senior Research and Legal Advisor of
TWN, emphasised that an apt policy response was needed to minimise the impacts
of LDC graduation in domestic producers and to ensure access to medicine in an
affordable way.
He suggested improvements in the draft law on
intellectual property such as decreasing the scope of patentability by
disallowing multiple patents in a single molecule, expanding provisions related
to compulsory licensing, and by introducing a transition period before the
product-patents are implemented.
Likewise, he highlighted the roles that government could
play in strengthening the pharmaceutical sector, for instance through providing
incentives such as tax breaks in the use of IP flexibilities, favouring
domestic producers in procurement policy, providing R&D funds, and by
ensuring that patents apply only to inventions, and not to discoveries.
Bharat Bhattarai, Director General, Department of
Drug Administration, stated that the government has acknowledged the need for
policy reforms in the pharmaceutical sector and the findings of the study have
been successful in providing robust policy recommendations.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 July 2022.
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