Economic and Political Weekly publishes an article by Nilanjan Banik, Professor of Economics and Finance, SOM

Published On: August 28, 2021

Professor Nilanjan Banik, School of Management, published a journal about the Indian perspective on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) waiver and the Covid-19 medicines. According to him, due to the spread of Covid-19 cases in India during the second wave, the Government of India decided to negotiate for an IPR waiver under section 1 (copyright and related rights), 4 (industrial designs), 5 (patents), and 7 (protection of undisclosed information) of TRIPS Agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO). He believes the proposed IPR waiver would allow more firms to manufacture vaccines, medicines and other Covid -19 related medical items, further reducing the cost.

In this UNESCAP working paper, he writes on how the focus should be on granting compulsory licenses, reducing import tariffs, and non-tariff measures (NTMs) to reduce COVID-19 medicines, vaccines, and other costs pharmaceutical items.