New Delhi, Aug 26 - India should give patents to improved variants of existing medicines as it will help people access variety of drugs at a competitive price, said a new study released Wednesday.

'Currently Indian patent law does now give patent to a new drug if it is not significantly different and efficacious than an existing one,' said Ranjit Shahani, president of the Organisation of the Pharmaceutical producers of India (OPPI).

He said the government does not allow patent to incremental innovation which is a build-up innovation on an existing variety of medicine. This restriction is hurting Indian patients as they are not getting better medicines.

The report which was released by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) said that over 60 percent of the drugs on World Health Organisation (WHO) list of essential medicines reflect incremental improvements of older drugs.

'Extending patent protection to incremental pharmaceutical innovation should encourage Indian pharmaceutical companies to expand their investment in innovation and ultimately become major source of new drug products for both the Indian and global markets,' the report said.