The Hindu Business Line : CSIR on top in biotech with 202 patent applications

BASF, Novo Nordisk, Procter and Gamble Co, F Hoffmann La Roche, SmithKline Beecham, Hindustan Lever and Astra Zeneca have moved to the top in the emerging field of biotechnology in India.

While BASF leads the pack with claims for 88 patents with the Indian Patent Office, Novo Nordisk with 79 and Procter and Gamble with 55 are other major claimants for patent protection of their products and process technologies, according to a study done by the Patent Facility Centre (PFC), under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

However, the real leader in biotechnology patents is the Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), with its string of 38 national laboratories across the country.

The CSIR has filed 202 patent applications.

The PFC scrutinised applications filed with the Indian Patent Office from January 1995 to June 2003. The total number of patents filed was 2,378. The maximum number of 451 was filed in the year 2001, according to the study.

Other corporates with reasonable number of claims were F Hoffmann La Roche (36), SmithKline Beecham (35), Hindustan Lever (28), American Cynamid (25), Avestha Gengraine Tech. (23), Zeneca Inc. (22) and Pfizer (21).

The major areas of interest, which the patent claims, covered were proteins and enzymes (700), bacteria and bacillus (236), fungi (219), virus (162), therapy (138), genes (136), vaccines (123) and sequencing (120).

Most of the applications covered products, drugs, genetically modified organisms etc., which may not qualify for grant of patents at present in India, the PFC, a unit under the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) said.

The number of patent applications clearly indicates the importance being attached by the industry in relation to the Indian market in the next 15 years, the PFC inferred. The high interest in proteins and enzymes also signifies the promise held out by Proteomics, a new branch of biotechnology.

The CSIR (82), Novo Nordisk (62), Procter & Gamble (44) and Hindustan Lever Ltd (17), are betting big in this area.

While 36 applications are for detergent formulations using different enzymes, about 20 are for preparation of high protein rich foods. The PFC study said many companies and research institutes have filed less than 17 applications. However, the growth in filing has not shown a uniform pattern and is perhaps lower than expectations, it concluded.

One interesting trend is the high number of 800 applications filed for patents in micro organisms.

More Stories on : IPR | Bio-tech & Genetics

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