Indian Patent Choices

India could reduce the 10-year transition period for introducing process patents on pharmaceuticals if "there is a balance of advantage in doing so," Commerce Minister Pranab Mukherjee disclosed in New Delhi. He told a meeting of the World Economic Forum meeting there that an "expert group is looking at all the possible angles." The Commerce Minister's statement is being interpreted as a departure from the stand held all along by an expert group on the subject. Mr Mukherjee said a bill on the exclusive marketing rights of the pharmaceutical sector would be introduced during the winter session of Parliment, which began December 7.