India: Patent Amendments Threaten Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines

In a letter to India’s National Human Rights Commission, the Affordable Medicines Treatment Campaign points out several ways in which proposed amendments to India’s Patent Act go beyond the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in their protection of pharmaceutical patents, potentially impeding generic competition. The letter calls on India’s National Human Rights Commission to investigate the impact of these amendments on access to medicines, consistent with India’s obligations to protect the right to life and the highest attainable standard of health under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.