The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council will launch its second Patent Facilitation Centre (PFC) at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, by the end of the month to provide patent related information for the exporters in Northern Region.

Pharmexcil, which had launched its first PFC at Hyderabad in July, 2008, will launch the second centre on November 26, 2009. The centre will also provide a platform to students at NIPER to engage in patent related services to pharmaceuticals industry through various projects and research activities.

The council has altered its earlier plans to set up a centre at New Delhi to support the exporters in Northern Region and has finalised the location at Mohali considering the suggestion of the Department of Pharmaceuticals. Launching of PFC at Mohali will also help the exporters around the area, with pharma manufacturing hubs like Himachal Pradesh, Uttranchal are at proximity, said Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmexcil.

"There are a lot of resources and data available at NIPER, Mohali. Further, the location is also near to so many pharma manufacturing hubs including Baddi. For the timebeing, our centre at Mohali will act as the support centre for pharma exporters in Northern Region," informs Dr Appaji.

The centre is being set up with funding support from Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Pharmexcil is hiring the small facility at NIPER, Mohali.

The PFC aims not to conduct education on patent related matters as a general service, but to provide adequate information for the pharma industry on the issues to support them in exports of drug pharma and related products to overseas nations. In order to extend the service to as many units in the industry, especially the small and medium scale companies, the council will launch a sub portal linked to its website within the current week, added Dr Appaji.

"The portal is designed to provide every latest developments on patent related matters through out the globe under single domain. This, we expect, would help the pharma units and especially the SME units, to update and keep track on the patent related information in their target nations for exports," he averred.

With the help of professors of NIPER and Dr Gopakumar Nair, Pharmexcil's advisor on patent matters, the centre at NIPER would provide services including organising awareness programmes on patents, information on patents, patent status of pharmaceutical products in India and other countries, interpretation of patent search information, search based intellectual property related technology and prior art search, invention mining, patentability opinion, infringement analysis and opinion and monthly analysis of granted patents.