India's lower house approves patent bill

NEW DELHI, Tuesday (Reuters) India's lower house of parliament passed a patents bill on Tuesday making it illegal to copy patented drugs, a practice that has made cheaper medicines available in India and abroad.

Lawmakers of the Congress party-led ruling alliance and their communist allies passed the bill with a voice vote, a key step to fulfilling India's WTO commitments.

The bill, which will become law once it is approved by the upper house, also covers other products such as chemicals, mobile phones and computers.

The bill was approved after the government conceded demands from its communist allies and included some of the amendments suggested by them which included allowing export of pharmaceutical products to least developed countries.

Earlier, the legislation had faced resistance from the ruling coalition's allies and opposition parties who were concerned about the availability of affordable drugs in India. The existing patent law has allowed drug makers to copy patented drugs as long as they use a different manufacturing process. It has fostered a strong drug manufacturing industry in India for more than three decades. The government argues, however, that patent recognition is an essential pre-condition for India's drug industry to further its own drug research and development or attract foreign partners.

India is already the world's fourth-largest producer of medicines by volume but ranks only 13th by value, reflecting the very low prices of products in the local market.India issued a presidential decree on patent protection at the end of December but the change needs to be ratified by parliament within six months.

Lawmakers from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led opposition walked out of parliament before the legislation was approved.