[Lucas van der Hoeven] How to examine pharmaceutical patent applications to ensure access to affordable generic medicines while rewarding genuine pharmaceutical inventions, in accordance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), was the focus of two training workshops organized by the South Centre at the Indian Patent Offices in Kolkata and Chennai on 10-11 February and 13-14 February, respectively. These activities were part of the collaboration between the South Centre and the Indian Patent Office under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India. Patent examiners and controllers in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sections of the patent offices exchanged views with experts from the South Centre on possible approaches to the examination of various types of typical claims in pharmaceutical patent applications.