'Monopoly of patent rights making medicines costly'

Ahmedabad, Jan 17 (IANS) The head of the Gujarat High Court has come out strongly against monopolistic patent rights on medical inventions, saying that the government must guard against monopoly of multinational drug companies that would 'result in a price rise, seriously affecting the common man'.

'We must promote local pharma companies to bring out better products so as to enable them to be in the forefront of the global market,' said Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, chief justice of the Gujarat High Court.

He was speaking at the two-day 2nd Annual Intellectual Property summit 2009' which began here Saturday under the aegis of YJ Trivedi-AMA Academy for Intellectual Property Rights.

Radhakrishnan said the government must guard against monopoly of multinational drug companies that would result in a price rise, seriously affecting the common man.

He said that giving monopolistic rights through patents increases the cost of essential drugs.

'Monopolistic patent rights on medical inventions is affecting public rights.'

He quoted Indira Gandhi who said in 1982 while addressing the World Health Assembly: 'The idea of a better-ordered world is one in which medical discoveries will be free of patents and there will be no profiteering from life and death.'