Patent data shows India among the top innovators in fight against Covid

When the Covid-19 pandemic caught the world, India was among the leading nations working to develop a vaccine. In a recent development, India has emerged as one of the top 10 patent filers in the world, according to a report in The Times of India (TOI). India has filed patents in three different categories, namely, therapeutics, vaccines and traditional medicines related to Covid-19, the report says.

India stood at the fourth spot among therapeutic patent filers, with 195 applications. This is based on a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) report.

China topped the rankings in the traditional medicines category with 341 filings, whereas India stood second with 59 filers.

Additionally, for vaccines, the Indian Patent Office received 65 vaccine-related patent applications, the seventh highest in the world.

The results were based on a detailed review by WIPO which analysed patent activity starting from January 2020 through September 2022. The findings show that innovators submitted thousands of new technologies for patents in order to fight the pandemic.

China topped the rankings of patent filings related to vaccines and therapeutics. It submitted 573 vaccine applications and 1,850 patent applications related to therapeutics. Other top countries included the US, Germany, Korea, and Russia. The US, Korea, India, and Germany were the top applicants in therapeutics.

India is known for its capacity to manufacture vaccines at large scales. Indian companies like Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India were prominent suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic.