Mumbai based Ideal Cures has won a pre-grant opposition under section 25(1) of the Indian Patent Act against BPSI Holdings Inc, parent company of Colorcon. The decision of winning the pre-grant opposition was conveyed by the court on February 28 and the company received it on March 3. The grant of patent was refused in view of lack of inventive step and as it does not constitute invention under section 2 (1) (j) of Indian patent act 1970. The pre grant opposition was filed by the company on May 14, 2008 with the Controller of Patents, patents office, Mumbai.

Ideal Cures had filed pre-grant opposition under section 25 (1) of the Patents Act against the patent application no - 689/MUMNP/2007 titled ‘enteric film coating composition’ of BPSI Holdings Inc. This is one of the crucial victory for an Indian pharmaceutical excipient manufacturing company. In the  past also Ideal Cures had successfully won a pre-grant opposition against BPSI Holding Inc. parent company of Colorcon Inc. for grant of a patent of film coating marketed by them as Opadry II as well as patent revocation of Patent no-191636 aqueous moisture barrier product marketed under the brand name Opadry AMB.

The refusal of grant of a patent against this application of BPSI holdings, will offer cost effective solutions to the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Suresh Pareek, managing director, Ideal Cures said that this win ensures that the monopoly of one manufacturer will not be there. “It will offer us opportunities to be able to manufacture and sell the products. It will also be beneficial for pharmaceutical companies as a whole as they will have an option and price competitiveness,” he pointed out.

Film coating materials which are produced by companies like Ideal Cures play a very important role in improvement of the shelf life of product, provide physical and chemical protection to drugs, to control release of drug from the tablet, to protect drug from gastric environment in the stomach with an acid resistant enteric coating, release pattern, release of drug in the body as well as to mask taste, odour and colour of the drug. Ideal Cures has its own R&D facilities recognised by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) and have their own eight patents granted for various technologies in film coating.

The company has set up 2nd R&D centre for doing research on the products for New Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS) and Multi Unit Particle System (MUPS). The company also has plans to enter in research and development of Nano Particle system for NDDS and MUPS.