Cadila Pharma gets US, UK patents

Mumbai: Two international patent regulators, the British Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, have granted a patent to the Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals process for amoxycillin plus Lactobacillus sporogenes combination recently.

Last year, the Indian patent office had given the patent for the Cadila, which also filed the patent in several countries including Australia and Sri Lanka. It also filed a patent cooperation treaty application designating various countries in their application.

Accepting the patent application, the Sri Lankan Patents Authorities and Trademarks office has now granted patent No 11408 to the inventor for the invention. The British Patent Office examined the corresponding British patent application and granted Cadila Pharmaceuticals the patent No GB 2323 532 B, Indian Patent Office officials said.

The title of the patent as granted is: Process for the preparation of a stable fixed dose pharmaceutical composition of anti-infective agents and micro-organisms as active ingredients. Curiously, the said British patent consisting of 18 claims covers both the composition and process claims for the stable fixed dose oral pharmaceutical composition.

However, IPO officials said: In India, the combination process has been under dispute since few other Indian pharmaceutical companies also came out with the same combination brands subsequent to Cadila Pharmas LMX 250/500 (brand name). Cadila had also filed a complaint in the Supreme Court seeking action against the patent infringement. The case is due for hearing.

Soon after the brand LMX was introduced by Cadila Pharma in 1998, two pharma majors, Cipla and Cadila Healthcare, too launched the same combination in different brand names. But, when the process patent was granted on Cadila Pharma by the Indian patent authority, the company took other manufacturers to court for alleged infringement of its patent right.

Though the matter is yet to be heard in the Supreme Court this month, it is learnt that due to a request from Cadila Healthcare for more time, the hearing was postponed to a date after 15 November. In the second case, Cadila Pharmaceuticals charged Cipla for infringement of process patent No 183097, along the lines in which Cadila Healthcare once infringed the process. Cipla had also introduced a product in the market, Novamox LB.