Still, in a recent NewsHour appearance, Pharma's Shannon Herzfeld called the Cipla move a PR gimmick. I think it is a distraction. And the World Bank says by 2005, there will be 35 million people in India who are HIV positive. Cipla is not a research company. The cures that are going to come to those Indians are going to come from our industry.
Some critics take issue with that claim and call many patents dubious.
Dr. Sengupta says most patented drugs are based on years of earlier innovation. In fact, the majority of the research is still public funded. And private corporations, entities, are building upon public-funded research. They're in a sense putting in the last block, or tightening the last screw. He adds that India's rejection of product patents is not that unusual in a historical sense.