There is a battle going on around the world affecting the health and livelihoods of millions of people. At issue is the determination of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, based primarily in Europe and the U.S., to prevent the spread of so-called "generic" medicines which are far cheaper than their branded counterparts.

This issue is currently brought to light in India's negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. This will give India cheaper access to European goods and markets, but will expose it to IPR prosecution if it continues to place low-cost, locally produced non-brand prescription drugs onto the world market.

India is often called the "pharmacy of the developing world" as its companies ignore the patents of multinational companies to produce cheaper copies for those could never afford brand-name drugs.

China, too, has a highly active generic medicine sector, and fulfils a similar need as the Chinese government works hard to provide equal healthcare provision across the nation.

This is a highly emotive issue. HIV activists in India (with 3 million current AIDS sufferers) claim the EU treaty "threatens the lives of millions of people around the world who rely on generic drugs for treatment."

In Africa, untold numbers of poor people have died because of an inability to buy drugs that could have prolonged their lives, if not necessarily curing their illness.

The Indian branch of the international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres describes the proposed EU agreement as "a disaster for the world's poorest people…not only [those] with HIV, but others with cancer, diabetes and hypertension."

For the past few years, large drug companies have been fighting at both the national and international level through such tactics as filing law suits on patent violations, seeking to either block new generic drugs or extract heavy compensatory payments for allowing their use - and thus raising their cost. They have also sought to bring pressure by intervening in the drug approval processes of individual countries.

In 2007, Neelie Kroes, then EU Competition Commissioner, said the companies' practice of filing many patent applications for the same drug and protracted litigation with generic producers had delayed cheap products reaching patients and health services, and drastically pushed up the cost of EU healthcare provision.

Big companies are also feeling political pressure in the U.S., where President Barack Obama has campaigned against high medicine costs undermining his pledge to extend healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

Companies deny they are against competition and refute the notion that they are against developing drugs at a lower price, but instead are hampered by complex regulatory hurdles and scientific challenges. This translates into a long testing process that raises costs before any medicine can reach end users.

Cynics remain unconvinced. One blogger commented: "You mean drug companies don't have people's health as their primary concern? They are driven by profit and don't care if people die as a result of their actions? Shock, horror! You'll be telling us next that oil companies care more about profits than clean energy to save the planet! This is no surprise. Look at the Fortune 500 list of companies in America, the biggest firms are in drugs and oil."

There are strong moral issues at stake here because much of the campaigning against exorbitant prices and for promoting the availability of cheaper generic drugs focuses on AIDS sufferers, where sexual misconduct and drug use are often blamed for the spread of the disease - hence, that the victims brought the suffering upon themselves. However, we also know that there are many ways innocent people can pick up the virus.

However, as is now being made clear, there are many diseases where high costs deny sufferers curative potential or at least the alleviation of suffering.

There is a growing movement spreading across Asia to bring this issue into the public spotlight. A recent statement issued by a number of concerned groups within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - primarily from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand - condemned drug multinationals in the EU and U.S. for their "aggressive actions" in the use of customs regulations, the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property obliging World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries to grant patents on technological products including pharmaceuticals, and the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

Yet, the statement pointed out, in 2001 all WTO countries signed the Doha Declaration that regulations should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of countries' rights to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.

Undoubtedly, businesses have a right to protect their research investments; yet, the actions of these powerful commercial entities risks eroding what has been achieved in recent years in bringing down the costs of treatment of life-threatening diseases through generic medicines.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/geoffreymurray.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.