Intellectual Property Rights policy may hinder drug access

India’s National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy, reported in the Hindu’s business pages earlier in May, could pose a “serious” hurdle to allowing access to affordable drugs, according to experts.The policy has left the country’s patent laws intact and specifically did not open up Section 3(d) of the Patents Act for reinterpretation, the clause which sets the standard for what’s considered an invention in India.