PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES: SYNCHRONIZATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COMPETITION LAWS.

Abstract

Competition without any restrictions and innovations are the pre-requisites for the development of a country. However, any conflict creates a complication. IP laws assure ownership rights, whereas the Competition Laws have a control over these rights creating monopoly, thus there has to be a balance between them at the time of interface. Practices against fair competition in the pharmaceutical industry have evolved as the major controversial issues in the recent years. The healthcare issue is sensitive in most part of the world and thus a question arises that should a patient be deprived of a medicine because the drug is patented and the price for the same is massive? The balance between intellectual property and heavy costs of healthcare is attained through compulsory licensing provisions. So, the interplay of competition policy and IPR is crucial for the dynamics of developing or industrialized countries. This article highlights the interplay of competition law and IPR in pharmaceutical industries internationally, compulsory licensing provisions guiding them and the example of Hatch- Waxman Act and its litigation settlements in US with the help of FTC.