Patent Notice

Patent Caution Notice that appeared in TOI, Mumbai. I am reserving an entire post on the same.

Paradigm shift in mindset of off-patent drug manufacturers paying rich dividends

The change in the mindset of off-patent drug manufacturers, or generic manufacturers, is paying rich dividends. Recent reports suggest that an Venus Remedies Ltd, a Chandigarh based company, has received a patent from the Indian patent office on a Novel Injectable Aceclofenac Formulation. The company has also received a patent from the European Patent Organization (EPO) for its anti-infective product, ''Sulbactomax''. The firm is now negotiating licensing deals with multinational pharma giants for the anti-infection product.

On the other hand, Bangalore based drug maker Avesthagen Ltd has received a 'process' patent for an arthritis drug. The arthritis drug is a bioequivalent of Amgen’s blockbuster medicine Enbrel that is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The company is planning to launch the drug by June 2012. However, the company says that it has no plans to manufacture drugs, and would outsource it while focusing on developing drugs.

The most important patent success story comes from Ahmedabad based pharma company, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The company has recently received a patent for ‘Dynapar AQ’, a diclofenac or painkiller injection, from the CIS countries CIS countries include Ukraine, Kazakhastan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia among others. This is after the drug has gotten patent approval in Australia, and is awaiting patent approvals in US and Europe. Reportedly, the company has spent `3 crore on the patent protection endeavor.

All this comes after the latest media report estimates that in 2008-09, Indian companies such as Dr Reddys, Ranbaxy and Cadila Healthcare had filed over 500 applications with the Indian Patent Office. Others such as Natco, Sun Pharma, Wockhardt and Cipla have also sought patent for key drugs.

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