Many basic, life-saving medications remain unaffordable in low- and middle-income countries. Spurred on by that fact, Yusuf Hamied, chairman and managing director of Cipla Pharmaceuticals, has steered his enterprise (Cipla Ltd) to the forefront of global pharmaceutical development by manufacturing low-cost drugs, thus making drugs affordable for the poor people of the developing world and saving the lives . In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Hamied describes his company’s skirmishes with multinationals looking to protect their patents on particular medications and explains why rules governing intellectual property rights in industrialized nations should not apply to poorer countries. The patent regime in India should be so devised that utmost priority is given to secure the people’s right to access affordable, quality health care.
