Mike Palmedo at Infojustice.org writes: “The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently investigating “Indian industrial policies that discriminate against U.S. imports… and the effect those barriers have on the U.S. economy and U.S. jobs.” The investigation was requested by Sen. Hatch, Sen. Baucus, Rep. Camp, and Rep. Levin, and the final report is due to be released in November. Last week it held a series of hearings, where it heard from U.S. business, Indian business, and civil society representatives.
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The Commissioners repeatedly asked for empirical evidence regarding Indian policies and their effects that these policies have had on American companies. Below I’ve posted a few graphics to show that the experience of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has been largely positive. They are followed by one graphic comparing prices offered by Bayer and (Indian generic firm) Natco to Indian income by quintile.
Furthermore, U.S. pharmaceutical exports to India are growing at a faster rate than U.S. pharmaceutical exports to the world as a whole. Since the Patents Act was amended in 2005, export growth in India has outpaced overall world growth in six out of eight years.
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It is notable that there has not been a single compulsory license granted on an American product. The ITC has been instructed to investigate the effect of Indian policies on the U.S. economy.”
The full text with graphs is available here.