Society

Whose Test Tube Babies?

A bill to let government scientists patent their work raises questions of propriety

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Whose Test Tube Babies?
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Wrong Or Right

A bill proposes that government scientists be allowed to benefit from commercialisation of their work. The pros and cons:

  • It is expected to boost R&D, create awareness about patents and facilitate technology transfer
  • However, it promotes a proprietary model of research instead of collaborative work
  • Some ask why the results of public-funded research should benefit individuals and private firms

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Price question: Doctors Without Borders are for cheap drugs

Leena Menghaney, a campaigner for Doctors Without Borders, says that in the US, under the Bayh Dole Act, government labs at least have the rights to enforce fair use in case research is misused by a private party.

"But the Indian version has insufficient safeguards to prevent misuse. It absolves them (the institutes) completely by saying disputes will be settled under the Indian Patents Act and places no additional checks to ensure public research actually benefits the public. We want an alternative model for research that delinks the cost of R&D from the price of the pharmaceutical product," she said. Dinesh Abrol, a science policy researcher at the National Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies, feels that such measures may render Indian universities subordinate to market forces. "Bayh Dole in the US has generated much conflict of interest. There have been instances of scientists in universities tailoring their results to industry preferences. This, when universities are expected to act for the civil society, independent of the government or private bodies," he says.

Such problems are likelier in Indian universities, says P.M. Bhargava, former vice-chairman of the National Knowledge Commission. This is because, he says, Indian universities haven't yet developed an independent character.

"Even vice-chancellors in India are appointed on a political basis and there are few intellectuals in Indian universities who oppose government moves like the one to introduce astrology as a science subject," he says. "This lack of integrity will surely be exploited by the industry with such a bill. When universities are not exercising academic autonomy, do you expect them to exercise this kind of autonomy?"

The alternative, says Basheer, would be to come up with a more evolved version of the Bayh Dole Act: "It should leave space for options like open source research and non-exclusive licensing in areas where the invention is of critical public importance." But a contentious trial run seems imminent before law effectively mediates between intellectual property rights and public good.

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