Expert panel disapproves changes in Patents Act

The Left parties' demand for narrowing the scope of patentability of drugs to "new molecular entities" and keep all further improvements out of its purview is unlikely to be considered by the Central government.

A five-member technical expert group on patent law issues ,headed by Dr R A Mashelkar, which finalised its report on Friday, is said to be in favour of retaining the current provisions in the Patents (Amendments) Act , 2005.

The expert panel's views were sought by the commerce ministry soon after the passage of the Patents (Amendment) Bill in Parliament last year.

The Left parties, which supported the amendment had wanted an expert committee to study the two basic issues in the Act and recommend its compatibility with the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions of the World Trade Organisation.

Informed sources revealed that the expert panel's decision was unanimous, and was framed keeping "national interest" in mind. The recommendations, the details of which are yet to be known, are likely to have a bearing on the future pharmaceutical patent grants of the country.

According to industry sources, the panel's recommendations will not affect the current system of patenting.

The Ministry of Commerce had announced the setting up of the technical group on patents on April 5, 2005 as a follow-up to the assurance given by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath in Parliament.

The committee was asked to say whether it would be TRIPS compatible to limit the grant of patents for a pharmaceutical substance to a new chemical entity, or to a new medical entity involving one or more inventive steps.

The patent law currently states that the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance, which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance, the mere discovery of any new property of a known substance, and the mere discovery of any new use of a known substance ,are not patentable.

Further, an explanation to the clauses list out a series of derivatives of known substances as non-patentable unless they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy.