The Ayurvedic community in Kerala has demanded the Government to order a comprehensive emergency enquiry on the factors that led to the loss of patent and trademark rights of Jeevani, the celebrated herbal compound developed and process patented by the Tropical Botanical Garden & Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram.
At a recent function held in Thiruvananthapuram under the auspices of Kerala Ayurveda Protection Council, an umbrella body of 13 odd organizations related to Ayurveda and attended by more than 500 people including NGO's, medicine manufacturers, students, physicians, faculty of Ayurveda Colleges etc., a memorandum in this regard was passed and submitted to the Kerala Health Minister Kadavoor Sivadasan, it is learnt.
The gathering also demanded the Government to initiate possible legal proceedings to retrieve and secure global rights of 'Jeevani', the drug developed from the traditional knowledge of the tribals of Agasthyar hills.
The memorandum noted the act of US based Nutrisciences LLC registering the trademark rights of Jeevani was the latest example of the attempts of Western world trying to steal our traditional knowledge. The Government should enquire the factors and circumstances that led to the decision to give manufacturing rights of Jeevani to a private company for seven years during 1996, instead of giving it to Oushadhi, the Government owned Ayurveda medicine manufacturing firm with quality infrastructure.
Further, the Government should enquire the complacency on the part of TBGRI to either globally patent the drug or to renew the process patent, even after many months of its expiry. It is also important to enquire how Nutrisciences LLC was able to get the formula of Jeevani, and should book the individuals who were responsible for losing the trademark and patent rights of the compound, the meeting demanded.
According to Dr.K.Jyothilal, Convener of the Kerala Ayurveda Protection Council, the meeting suggested measures to protect traditional home remedies, tribal and Ayurvedic medicinal knowledge by creating an exhaustive data mobilization and dissemination mechanism. Involving political and social organizations, NGO's, students and other stakeholders, the Government should come forward to create a complete biodiversity register of the state.
For this, the Government should form a governing council, followed by similar committees at district, taluk and village levels. Enough funds should be allocated for the project, and data should be prominently displayed in public domains proclaiming it as the exclusive rights of the people of Kerala. Already, some villages like the Pattur panchayath in Kannur has come forward to create their own biodiversity registers, noted Dr.Jyothilal.