Cima Labs, U.S.-based maker of Fentora (fentanyl), a painkiller for cancer patients, will get to keep its India patent for the oral version of the drug--at least for now--after the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) issued a stay against a patent office's rejection.
In setting aside the rejection, IPAB ordered the Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs, Kolkata, to conduct a new hearing on Cima's application and this time give the company a reasonable opportunity to respond to the office's objections to considering the drug to be a novel one.
Cima had lost earlier with the patent office when it also rejected an application for a parallel invention related to the drug.
In issuing its order for a new hearing beginning from scratch, IPAB accused the patent office of "flagrant violation of natural justice."
- read the Financial Express article