Health activists urged the Indian government on Tuesday to review a patent bill that makes it illegal to copy patented drugs, saying it would make drugs unaffordable for millions suffering from AIDS.

Last week, India proposed changing the country’s patent laws to make it illegal to copy patented drugs, a practice that has made cheaper medicines available in India and abroad, to fulfill India’s commitment to the WTO.

The existing patent law has allowed drug makers to copy patented drugs as long as they use a different manufacturing process.

It has fostered a strong drug manufacturing industry in India for more than three decades.

“Fifty percent of people with AIDS in the developing world depend on generic drugs from India,” Ellen ‘t Hoen, director of policy advocacy and research at relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, told a news conference.

“The patent law will cut the lifeline to other countries. Besides, the Doha declaration also says that countries should design products so that they protect public health.”

Lawmakers are debating the amendments to the patent act and they are likely to be approved by parliament soon.

Indian companies have developed combination pills from drugs patented by different companies, which have become popular in HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries. This was possible only because Indian law hitherto had no product patent constraints.

India has more than 5.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, the world’s second-largest HIV population after South Africa, and experts say the number could quadruple by 2010.

The World Bank has warned the disease would become the single largest cause of death in the world’s second-most populous country unless there is progress on prevention.

But AIDS activists said they feared the patent legislation would make AIDS drugs too expensive in India where most HIV positive people use generic drugs.

“I’m using a generic version of antiretroviral drugs. Already, generic drugs are expensive. After patents, new drugs will become unaffordable,” said Elango Ramachandar, who is HIV positive.

“Ten percent of people living with HIV need antiretroviral drugs. We won’t be able to afford new inventions if they come under patent.”

The government argues that patent recognition is an essential precondition for India’s drug industry to further its own drug research and development or attract foreign partners.

The country is already the world’s fourth-largest producer of medicines by volume but ranks only 13th by value, reflecting the very low prices of products in the local market.