As published in The Economic Times of April 27, 2025: India’s Commerce and industry minister - “Piyush Goyal stated that India frequently receives requests to extend pharmaceutical patents for minor modifications. He criticized this practice, known as ‘evergreening,’ for prioritizing corporate profits over global healthcare access.’
Against the above backdrop, I reckon, as India strides toward the goal of becoming a ‘Vikshit Bharat by 2047’, we must dismantle the hidden structural barriers that undermine self-reliance, stifle true innovation, and deny affordable healthcare to our people. One such barrier- largely invisible to the public yet devastating in its impact- is the global pharmaceutical industry’s misuse of patent evergreening.
This practice – where companies file successive, often trivial, secondary patents to extend monopolies on old drugs—chokes competition, delays biosimilars, and imposes crippling costs on patients and health systems. It is not innovation; it is legal manipulation.
India, through its bold and visionary Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, has stood almost alone in resisting this exploitation. But as pressures continues to mount from powerful trade lobbies and multinational corporations, India’s resolve is being tested.
Evergreening: Innovation’s Parasite?
The concept of evergreening is deceptively simple but deeply corrosive. When the primary patent on a blockbuster drug nears expiry, companies file dozens—or even hundreds – of minor patent claims on formulations, delivery methods, or metabolites. These “secondary patents” are designed not to protect new inventions, but to delay affordable alternatives.
Consider Humira, a biologic drug that should have gone off-patent in 2016. Through aggressive evergreening, its U.S. monopoly was extended until 2023, amassing over $240 billion in revenue—while millions of patients waited for cheaper biosimilars.
This is not an isolated case. Imatinib, Rituximab, Enbrel, and many more biologics have seen similar fates in Western markets. These tactics have turned the global patent system into a tool for rent-seeking, rather than discovery.
If allowed unchecked, this model will undermine India’s biosimilar leadership, strain our healthcare budgets, and compromise our ambition to be a Vishwa Guru in inclusive, ethical innovation.
Section 3(d): Bharat’s Intellectual Firewall:
India’s response—crafted in the 2005 Patents Act and embodied in Section 3(d)—rejects trivial innovations from being patented. It is not anti-IP; it is pro-science, pro-accountability, and pro-Bharat.
This legal firewall has enabled Indian companies to launch biosimilars for some of the world’s most expensive biologics—at a fraction of global prices. It is why cancer patients in India don’t pay $100,000 a year for treatment. It is why generic drug diplomacy became India’s soft power during COVID-19.
Weakening Section 3(d), under global trade pressure or lobbying, would open the floodgates to evergreening in India—replacing our public health logic with corporate greed.
Vikshit Bharat Demands Patent Integrity in true sense:
To achieve the Vikshit Bharat vision, India must be both an innovation hub and a justice champion. This requires moral clarity and policy courage on the patent front.
- Make evergreening unprofitable: Reform examination practices, increase patent office scrutiny, and use AI to flag secondary patent abuse. No drug should get 20 more years of monopoly for marginal tweaks.
- Preserve Section 3(d) as a global model: Far from being “TRIPS non-compliant,” Section 3(d) should be exported to other nations. India can lead a coalition of countries in the Global South to challenge evergreening through WTO forums.
- Empower biosimilar innovation as strategic sector: Just as India leads in generic vaccines; we must become the world’s biosimilar leader. This is not just a market opportunity – it is a sovereignty imperative.
- Expose evergreening through transparency: Let public databases track all secondary patents filed, so regulators, researchers, and citizens can hold bad actors accountable.
The Moral Choice for Vikshit Bharat:
Evergreening is not merely a legal trick—it is a moral failing, where life-saving treatments are hoarded for profit. If Bharat is to be vikshit (developed) in the truest sense, then access to medicines cannot be a privilege—it must be a right.
By resisting evergreening, India is not rejecting innovation—it is defending its soul. It is declaring that patents are a means to progress, not tools of profiteering.
Let the world know: a Vikshit Bharat will not inherit broken systems—it will lead with better ones. And in doing so, it will set a new global gold standard for innovation with integrity.
Reclaiming Patent Integrity for Vikshit Bharat: Making Innovation Work for All:
As India marches toward Vikshit Bharat 2047, the vision of a developed, self-reliant nation hinges not just on economic growth, but on systems that are fair, future-ready, and aligned with national interest. Nowhere is this truer than in healthcare and pharmaceuticals—sectors critical to both public welfare and strategic sovereignty.
India has already earned global recognition as the “Pharmacy of the World” by supplying affordable generics and vaccines to over 200 countries. Yet, to fully realize the Vikshit Bharat vision, we must go further: from low-cost manufacturing to innovation leadership. This requires building an ecosystem where patent law rewards true invention without compromising access—a system that puts Janta (the people) and Jan Arogya (public health) at the center.
A Broken Global Model and India’s Course Correction:
The traditional model of pharmaceutical innovation is under stress. While patents were designed to incentivize breakthrough research, the global biopharma industry is increasingly plagued by “evergreening”—the strategic use of secondary patents to extend monopolies on blockbuster drugs long after their primary patents expire.
Section (3d) of the Indian Patents Act is not just a legal provision. It is a civilizational ethos: that science must serve society. That the gains of innovation should be shared, not hoarded. That Bharat’s development must include the last mile, the last person.
Patent Integrity Alongside Leadership in Ethical Regulation Are Pillars of Vikshit Bharat:
For India to become a global innovation hub under Vikshit Bharat, we must lead not only in discovery but in ethical regulation. There are three strategic imperatives:
- Safeguard India’s patent standards: Attempts to dilute Section 3(d) through trade pressure or lobbying must be firmly resisted. Weakening this clause would not attract innovation—it would enable exploitation. A Vikshit Bharat sets the rules, not follows them.
- Modernize our patent ecosystem: While the spirit of our law is sound, enforcement is uneven. Nearly 70% of drug patents granted in India are secondary in nature. We must invest in capacity-building at the Indian Patent Office, deploy AI-based scrutiny tools, and uphold transparency and scientific rigor in patent examination.
- Champion biosimilar access as global public good: With rising non-communicable diseases and biologics dominating pipelines, affordable biosimilars are critical to Jan Arogya. India has the scientific talent and manufacturing prowess to lead this space. But unless we protect our regulatory autonomy, we risk becoming dependent again—this time not for vaccines, but for cancer and autoimmune therapies.
A Message to Stakeholders: Innovation Must Serve Bharat:
To global pharmaceutical companies, Indian regulators, and policymakers: this is not a call to reject IP, but to restore its legitimacy. Secondary patents, when used as tools for revenue preservation rather than discovery, undermine public trust, delay life-saving access, and divert resources from genuine innovation.
The world is watching. As India negotiates trade agreements, leads the Global South, and shapes digital and health diplomacy, our stance on patent fairness will define not just our domestic health outcomes, but our moral authority on the world stage.
Conclusion: Building a Bharat That Heals and Leads:
A Vikshit Bharat is not just an economic powerhouse—it is a nation where healthcare is affordable, innovation is inclusive, and laws reflect both wisdom and will. By defending the integrity of our patent regime and leading global reform on evergreening, India can prove that development does not mean adopting broken models—it means offering better ones.
Let India show the world that Atmanirbharta in healthcare is not just about making in India—it is about thinking for India, and leading for the world.
By: Tapan J. Ray
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.