Pfizer's new tofacitinib patent again denied in India

The Indian patent office has again rejected US pharma giant Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) new patent application for its rheumatoid arthritis drug tofacitinib, citing it did not enhance the efficacy of the existing approved drug, according to local media reports.

“After having considered the submissions by the applicant in the hearing, the written submission and amended claims filed... it is hereby ordered that the invention disclosed and claimed in the instant application... is not considered as an invention under the provisions of the Act,” Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs Bharat N S said in an order, reported The Hindu Business Line.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in October last year set aside an order by the patent office which rejected Pfizer’s patent for a new formula of the drug and directed it to re-consider the application. “I do not admit that the claimed compound has enhanced efficacy over the base compound...and hence not patentable under Section 3(d) of Patents Act... and I therefore, hereby refuse this Application,” Mr Bharat added in his order.