PhRMA Has Made It Official: Wants India Labeled A "Priority" IP Rights Violator -- By US Trade Representative

Not surprising, since the US has placed India on its watch list every year since 1989, and for three of those, had India listed as a "priority" violator.

Even so, I think PhRMA's sabre rattling does more harm than good -- but here is a bit -- and the full 217 page PhRMA position paper for 2014, under Section 301 (that's one big PDF file):

. . . .PhRMA recommends that India and Turkey be designated as Priority Foreign Countries in USTR‘s Special 301 report for 2014. PhRMA also recommends that the People‘s Republic of China continue under Section 306 Monitoring. The detailed information presented in the country-specific sections below demonstrates that these countries have in place the most harmful acts, policies, and practices, which, in turn, have the greatest adverse impact on the U.S. innovative biopharmaceutical industry.

PhRMA urges USTR to take resolute action to remedy these violations, including the consideration of WTO dispute settlement, as necessary.. . .

We will keep an eye on it, but this one -- as we've long said -- needs cooler, rather than hotter heads.

"Words," like eyeglasses -- Joseph Joubert said -- "obscure everything that they do not make clearer. . . ."

That is especially true of the recent TRIPS rhetoric -- around drug and biologic intellectual property rights, and India's drive to make life-saving medicines more affordable, for her people -- from all sides. We need more grown-ups in the room, people.