Tidbit – LDCs: “Too poor to be news”?

/ By / Others, Patent

In a matter that remains largely ignored by most of the mainstream media, one of the greatest points of discussion and dispute in IPR at the international level has been the level of exemptions allowed for ‘Least Developed Countries’ under the WTO rules, for patents and other intellectual property related to medicines. On this front, international organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Knowledge Ecology International have been lobbying very strongly in favour of the proposal. Supporters of an […]

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been signed!

/ By / Others

In one of the most significant and, quite possibly the most damaging, developments in the IPR world in the recent past, the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) has finally been signed! The document has been agreed-to between the United States and 11 other nations, including Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, and Mexico, from the Pacific Rim after nearly eight years of confidential negotiation. We have commented on the TPP earlier here, here, here, and here.

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (28 September – 4 October 2015)

/ By / Others

Highlight of the Week This week’s highlight has to be Madhulika’s excellent two-part post on the Indian Patent Office’s rejection of Pfizer’s Torfacitinib patent application, for the rheumatoid arthritis drug. In Part I, she examines whether the application is anticipated by prior art where the claimed prior art is not for the same substance but for an enantiomer. Somewhere along the line, she gives us an explanation of chirality and enantiomerism that’s so lucid that it had me wondering why

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SpicyIP Tidbit – Economist and IP innovator Heidi Williams awarded the MacArthur Fellowship 2015!

/ By / Innovation, Patent

We have some incredibly gratifying news for you folks today! Economist Heidi Williams, who’s done some fascinating work tracking the implications of patent regulations and technology changes on innovation in health-care markets through data-based research (you can check out some of her work on Written Description’s blog here), has been chosen as one of the 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2015. What makes Williams’ receipt of this prestigious Fellowship, aka “Genius Grant”, even more of an extraordinary honour, is the fact

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Creation of “Linux for Drugs” gets support from Tata Trusts

/ By / Innovation

In what could turn out to be quite a significant development for pharma innovation combined with affordable medicines, Tata Trusts have announced that they will support the creation of the Open Source Pharmaceutical Foundation (OSPF), with operations commencing later this year, under the leadership of Mr Jaykumar Menon, Dr Tanjore Balganesh, Mr Bernard Munos and Dr Mathew Todd. As described, “OSPF seeks to support an alternative comprehensive, open source pharmaceutical innovation model driven by principles of openness, patient needs, and affordability.”

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Youth Workshop on IP, Public Health and Access to Medicines

/ By / Others

The 4th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, scheduled to be held from 15-17th December, 2015 at National Law University, Delhi is fast approaching. Interested candidates who haven’t yet sent in their applications to participate are encouraged to do so at the earliest. To coincide with the 4th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and Public Interest, ISID, PHM and Prayas are conducting a four-day post-congress youth workshop on intellectual property, public health and access to medicines. Selected participants will:

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (20 September – 27 September, 2015)

/ By / Others

Folks, we’ve had a pretty good run this week ! Here’s a quick glance at all that we’ve covered –   SpicyIP Highlight of the Week ! Our SpicyIP Highlight of the Week is Swaraj’s excellent post critiquing the recent (and unanticipated) release of the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions that has caused much worry and concern amongst think tanks, which they put together in a joint letter to the Prime Minister. He questions the legitimacy of the

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Data exclusivity: IPA letter to Min opposes any change to Indian law

/ By / Data Exclusivity, Drug Regulation

The India-US bilateral talks starting tomorrow could mean renewed scrutiny of India’s IP regime and a letter from the Chairman and ranking members of the Ways and Means and Finance Committees to Secretary of State, John Kerry and Secretary of Finance, Penny Pritzker seeks to ensure that there is ample pressure on the Indian government to modify our laws to reflect the ‘right’ kind of policy.  Highlighting the opportunities presented by a 1.2 billion member strong free market, this letter (authored by Paul Ryan,

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Patent office rejects Tofacitinib patent application: An analysis [Part II]

/ By / Patent

Part I of this post examined whether the cited prior art actually qualifies as prior art for the purposes of prior claiming and also analyzed the patentability of an enantiomer over a racemic mixture. Part II of the post analyzes the Section 3(d) rejection and the potential influence it can have in future. Further Part II of the post also analyzes the extent of disclosure required for Section 8. [991/MUMNP/2003 DECISION]. In addition to prior claiming,the Controller also rejected the

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Patent office rejects Tofacitinib patent application: An analysis [Part I]

/ By / Patent

On September 3, 2015, the Indian patent office rejected Pfizer’s Tofacitinib patent application 991/MUMNP/2003 second time around. The patent was rejected based on grounds of anticipation by prior claiming  and Section 3(d). I have divided this post into two parts to analyze the Controller’s decision. In part I, I analyze the anticipation ground and patentability of an enantiomer. Part II of the post examines the Section 3(d) rejection.[ 991/MUMNP/2003 DECISION] Image from here Background: Pfizer had filed a national phase

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