MNCs camouflaging drug identity, say activists

Domestic drug majors and public health activists have accused research-based multinational drug companies of not providing clear information about the type or use of the potential new medicines in patent applications.

The practice of using complex chemicals, or molecular formulae, in place of clear indicators as patent titles is an attempt to hide the identity of the actual molecule, they said.

"There are instances of patent title merely mentioning the invention as 'a novel compound' or a 'new pharmaceutical substance'. By doing so, the companies are trying to avoid detection of the actual nature of their products. The Indian patent law has, in fact, considered this factor while saying (in Section 10) that the title of the patent application and the patent abstract that follows should describe the product, its use and explain its contents," Gopakumar Nair, a Mumbai-based patent expert said.

"However, there rules are often broken than followed," he added.

With the number of applications reaching the four regional patent offices increasing tremendously in recent times, easy scanning of patent applications has become important for both generic companies as well as patent examiners, say the public health activists engaged in pre-grant oppositions against seemingly frivolous patent applications on essential medicines. 
 

PLACEBO EFFECT Patent application status
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Filed	11,466	12,613	17,466	24,415	28,882
Examined	9,538	10,709	14,813	11,569	14,119
Granted	1,379	2,469	1,911	4,320	7,359
Source: Commerce ministry

"We are most concerned about patent applications for HIV/AIDS medicines. However, it is very difficult to identify the applications for drugs meant for specific use. Most often, the details given in the applications are so complex that one fails to track all of them. Even after repeated assurances of making a searchable database, the Indian patent office website cannot be used to track drug patent applications for specific diseases," Ramya Sheshadri, a representative of Lawyers Collective said.

The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), the representative body of leading generic drug firms, feels that India should insist that all applications for pharmaceutical substances should indicate the international non-proprietary name (INN) of the substance as the title of the patent. INN is a common name that properly describes the product.

"Such a provision will cover at least 90 per cent of the pharmaceutical patent applications and would go a long way in facilitating search and examination processes. It will also prevent attempts for secondary patents for known molecules. Prima-facie, the title of patent applications might look trivial but they are of vital importance for lifting the veil on secondary patent applications," D G Shah, secretary general, IPA, said.

It is known that IPA's position is in tune with a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that highlights the need for simplifying patent search on essential medicines by disclosing the INN where ever possible.