The Introduction of Pharmaceutical Product Patents in India: "Heartless Exploitation of the Poor and Suffering"?

The decision to require that countries grant product patents for pahrmaceutical innovations as a condition of membership in the World Trade Organization was very contentious. Almost fifty developing countries were not granting patent monopolies for drugs during the period the Uruguay Round of GATT was being debated and these countries fiercely resisted the inclusion of this requirement, claiming that vastly higher drug prices would be associated with such patents.