The Hindu : National : ICMR to tie up with MIHR

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

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ICMR to tie up with MIHR

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is planning to tie up with the Centre for the Management of Intellectual Property in Health Research and Development (MIHR), a global network of institutions and individuals on intellectual property management practices and policies to promote and manage Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the country for the benefit of the health sector.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday during the ongoing three-day symposium on "Living with TRIPS: Innovation of New Health technologies for the Poor'', K.Satyanarayana, senior Deputy Director General and chief of IPR unit of the ICMR, said eventually the Council hoped to go in for a formal collaboration with MIHR and other developing countries.

The collaboration would help Indians in learning how to manage the IPR "as we develop new technology," he said while pointing out that technology management, particularly in the health sector was minimal. "The researchers need to know that it is important to introduce new inventions at an early stage but here they are unaware of this fact," Mr. Satyanarayana said. "And IP product patenting in the U.S. is very expensive for them," he added.

According to Mr. Satyanarayana, Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights had been a "whipping boy'' for everyone but now it was time to focus on its flexibilities so that it could be used for the benefit of the poor.

The aim of the symposium was to try and collaborate between the two extreme voices speaking for and against the TRIPS agreement, Richard Mahoney, an IP expert from Korea said.

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