The impending amendment of Indian Patent Act should take urgent note of the scope for broadening the range of inventions that can be patented, feels experts. Indian Patent Act is silent on the IPR of many of the latest genomic / biotech developments that should be corrected at the earliest, they opined.

Addressing a one-day workshop on patents organized by the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Delhi state branch, here on September 4, 2004, experts pointed out the need for a mention of gene sequencing and the like in the amended Patent Act.

Delivering the Key note address, Dr R Saha emphasized the importance of intellectual property and informed about the initiatives taken up by the centre in this regard. In his inaugural address, Ashwini Kumar, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) focused on the need for more clarity with regard to patentability, the kind of legal scenario associated with patenting in India and the preparedness of patent offices to handle the situation. Dr Rama Mukherjee, director Dabur Research Foundation, who was the guest of honour during the inaugural session of the workshop also stressed the importance of more awareness of patent rules among the scientific community.

The emphasis of the workshop was on the opportunities for the Pharmaceutical Industry on the new patent regime specifically during post 2005 period. The experts who spoke included patent attorneys and patent officials.

D C Gabriel, patent attorney, apprised the delegates on the current global patent scenario. Sharad Vadhera, another patent attorney spoke about the constraints, opportunities and strategies for the pharmaceutical industry in the new patent regime. L Balasubrahmaniam, also a patent attorney specializing in Pharmaceutical patents presented her view on the strategic management of intellectual property. Officers from the Office of the Patent Controller, S K Pangasa and K S Kardam, described the procedure for filing of Indian as well as PCT Patent applications.

About 250 delegates from various facets of pharmaceutical profession including large and medium scale pharma companies, drug regulatory authorities, academics and community pharmacy attended the workshop.

According to Dr Praveen Khullar, president IPA (Delhi), the workshop offered a forum for interaction among management experts, academicians, law practitioners, industrialists and research scientists in understanding the obligations under the Trade related aspects of Interllectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreements of the World Trade Organisation.