Venus Remedies wins decade long battle against French firm to cancel patent for Paracetamol
New Delhi: In a historical breakthrough for the pharmaceutical industry in India, Himachal Pradesh-based Venus Remedies has won a 10-year long legal battle that challenged patent claimed by French pharmaceutical firm SCR Pharmatop for producing the intravenous paracetamol solution in India.
As intravenous paracetamol plays a critical role in managing inflammation and fever, hence the revocation of this patent is an encouraging development for the healthcare sector in the country reeling under the current pandemic, Venus said in a statement.
The genesis of the conflict goes back to 2011, when Venus Remedies filed a patent challenge against SCR Pharmatop in India seeking to remove any patent hurdle in manufacturing of intravenous paracetamol solution in the country.
The Baddi-based injectable manufacturer filed the post-grant opposition against the SCR Pharmatop's intravenous paracetamol patent before the Indian Patent Office on several grounds such as lack of novelty and lack of inventive steps, among others.
The Indian Patent Office, in a decision dated 4th June, 2021 decided in favour of Venus Remedies and upheld its decision for revocation of the Indian patent on the grounds that the process lacked any inventive step that made it superior to other existing solutions.
During the course of the case, Patent Office first revoked the patent in 2018 observing that the claims made by SCR Pharmatop are obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art. However, the French firm moved Delhi High Court and Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).
IPAB directed the Patent office to hear the matter once again. After hearing from both the parties, the Indian Patent Office finally on June 4th order noted the cancellation of Patent no.238164, dated 24th December 2018.
Sharing the development with the key stakeholders of the company, Saransh Chaudhary, President, Global Critical Care, Venus Remedies Ltd said, "We are committed to finding and developing the best solutions for global health challenges the biggest part of which is bridging the gap between people and robust healthcare facilities. Our endeavor here was to make sure that critical drugs such as Intravenous Paracetamol is available in our country to be manufactured generically and accessible at economical prices for the general public, particularly during these difficult times."
Venus Remedies is among the leading injectable manufacturers in the world with presence in over 70 countries.
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