India has had to suffer much criticism in the developed world for the decision by its supreme court to refuse to grant a new patent to the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis for an updated, or tweaked, version of its leukemia treatment drug Glivec.
Instead, the court should be given a thorough resounding cheer. The decision firmly tells big drug companies that patents will be granted only when research and development really advances.
The judgment still leaves open questions about India and its attitudes to investment and intellectual property and about the operations of the giant pharmaceutical companies, or Big Pharma. Equally important, it throws a small light on the failure of governments and markets in tackling critical questions of health and well-being of the 7 billion people on Earth.