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India’s new medicine taxes hit the poor and the sick

India surprised the world this week by announcing that it would impose taxes on many imported medicines. It will remove customs duty waivers and impose excise duty on 76 medicines used to treat cancer, HIV, haemophilia, diabetes and other diseases. The Times of India reported that this might “result in price increases between 10-25 percent …

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Pharma prices may be linked to per capita GDP

In a move sure to upset people worldwide, India has announced that it may introduce a system  of price controls for patented medicines. Here’s the story in today’s Economic Times. The principle would be that the Indian cap would be based on the price that government pays in Australia, Canada, France and the UK. So far, …

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China follows India’s lead on compulsory licensing of medicines

Reuters is reporting today that China has amended its patent law to permit “eligible companies to produce generic versions of patented drugs during state emergencies, or unusual circumstances, or in the interests of the public. For ‘reasons of public health’, eligible drug makers can also ask to export these medicines to other countries, including members of …

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Government free medicine scheme starts this year

This very uncritical Times of India piece reports on the October start of the government free medicines scheme (even more noteworthy as the ToI is not known for being uncritical of the government). The article does list all of the pitfalls of separate lists in every state and the need for state contributions. It also …

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