India has the largest average number of patents granted per year, but this is possibly a result of the fact that India only started to grant patents on pharmaceutical products in 2005 since, unlike the other countries considered here, it used the transitional period allowed by article 70.8 of the TRIPS Agreement to the full extent, until January 1st 2005 . An additional explanation for the case of India is that, as discussed below, the number of patents applied for and obtained by local pharmaceutical companies is quite significant.