Patients Before Patents or Profits

A dose of success for patient rights in India as the Indian Patent Office rejected J&J’s application to extend its monopoly over selling miracle anti-Tuberculosis drug Bedaquiline after a plea filed by two TB survivors. But is this a one off or will this push MNCs to rethink their drug monopoly strategy? Does the government need to rethink their role in protecting the patients right to ensure MNCs give the same due to Indian users as US based patients ? Host Kiran Somvanshi of The Economic Times debates the issue of evergreening of patents and the abuse of patient rights in this episode of the Morning Brief.  

In this Episode we hear from Nandita Venkatesan, a two-time TB survivor,who filed the plea against J&J extending it’s TB drug patent. Nandita, a journalist by profession is a patient rights activist who also delivered the keynote address at the Union World Conference on Lung Health. 

Teena Thacker from The Economic Times,  winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism for her bringing to light the plight of hundreds of patients impacted by J&Js faulty hip implant who unlike their US counterparts received no compensation from the pharma major. 

Vikas Dandekar, ET Prime · Editor - Pharma & Healthcare, has nearly 3 decades of experience in reporting on the health and pharma industry. From exposing big pharma pushing opioids in India to exploring the antibiotic ecosystem and what its doing to our health. Vikas discusses with Kiran the balance between business and responsibility for Pharman MNCs.

Below is a statement from Johnson & Johnson (to be attributed to the Company or a Company spokesperson): “We stand behind Johnson’s Baby Powder as research, clinical evidence and over 40 years of studies by medical experts around the world have confirmed our products are safe and do not contain asbestos.”

If you like this episode from Kiran Somvanshi, you can check out her other episodes on - Dividends from Drones, World Cancer Day: India’s Growing Cancer Bill, Royalty Raj: HUL reopens Pandora's Box and more!

You can follow our host Kiran Somvanshi on her social media: Twitter & Linkedin

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts.

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