The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has filed an application with the office of the Patent Controller seeking a product patent on an organic chemical with the potency to strengthen the immunity profile of human body. The compound separated from the extract of a plant called Asparagus racemosus is developed in Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu, a associate firm of the CSIR.

The product is the result of years of collaborative research among the CSIR, RRL, department of science & technology and the Mumbai-based herbal drug producer, Zandu Pharmaceuticals. The patent rights will be shared between the CSIR and Zandu Pharma, official sources said.

The novel compound with the technical name oligospirostanoside can be of use in increasing the effectiveness of treatment in a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, sources added.

Besides the product patent sought for the compound, the CSIR has also filed for a patent for the process by which the immunomodulatory agent is isolated. Other process patent applications filed by CSIR include that for the isolation technique of an anti-oxidant and free radical scavenging fraction of the plant called Terminalia chebula.

It may be mentioned that the DST and CSIR had last year applied for product patents on a peptide-based anti-cancer molecule in India as well as in US, Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel and Japan. Dabur Research Foundation is working on this molecule, which is currently under clinical trials in India and the UK.