The Times of India quotes Pfizer's senior vice-president for global policy and international public affairs, Justin McCarthy, that "a series of regulatory initiatives and legal challenges have frayed relations between the Indian government and global pharmaceutical firms,” and urged the government to "shift from using destructive IP policy as an access strategy.”
Mr. McCarthy and Pfizer ought to be applauded for bringing to light this important policy issue where the Indian government wants to bury the truth. However, I would add one nuance to the policy discussion. India’s IP grabs aren’t an access strategy – it’s a doomed effort at domestic industrial policy.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing shouldn’t be called a sheep.
