The Indian Patents Act has a provision to curb the practice of ‘evergreening’ of drug patents. Which of the following is the possible impact of ‘evergreening’ of drug patents?

• Evergreening is a strategy adopted by Pharma a multinational corporation/companies (MNC) under which they make minute modifications to an existing drug and take a new patent for that.

• As a result, the generic drug makers in countries like India are not able to produce and market that drug. This makes the prices of the drug exorbitantly high for a continued period.

• Under section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act, 2005, patent will be granted only if the invention is substantial and, thus, restricts the practice of evergreening.