Venus Remedies is a pharmaceutical conglomerate that is research-driven, with an outstanding global presence. Since the year 2004, Venus Remedies has played a pivotal role in research related to infectious diseases in India. The company is based out of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and has a global presence in over 70 countries. Venus Remedies also manages a team of over a thousand healthcare professionals. The company is also widely known for manufacturing over 100 million injectable units per year. One such injectable unit is the Intravenous paracetamol. An IV paracetamol is used for the treatment of fever, post-operative pain, and hypothermia. It is clinically injected into the human body if there is an urgent need to treat any kind of body pain. French pharmaceutical company had claimed a patent over this IV paracetamol, particularly, for producing it in India. Consequently, Venus Remedies challenged this patent. Venus Remedies contended that the patent lacked an inventive step or novelty and thus, must be revoked. Additionally, it was argued that this revocation would be imperative considering the COVID 19 pandemic’s status quo. The company released a statement that read as follows:

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“As intravenous paracetamol plays a critical role in managing inflammation and fever, hence the revocation of this patent is an encouraging development for the healthcare sector in the country reeling under the current pandemic”

Timeline of the case:

Venus Remedies had filed a post-grant opposition against Pharmatop, before the Indian Patent Office back in 2011 citing the lack of novelty or any inventive steps involved. In 2018, the Patent Office revoked the patent. Subsequently, Venus Remedies moved their plea to the Delhi High Court and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. The Indian Patent Office decided to hear the matter upon IPAB’s directions. After a ten-year-long legal battle, on the 4^th of June 2021, the Indian Patent office decided in favor of Venus Remedies. SCR Pharmatop’s patent was revoked on the grounds that the process related to IV Paracetamol did not have any inventive step, Additionally, it was also noted that the claims made by SCR Pharmatop were claims that would be “obvious to any person skilled in the art”. Upon the revocation, Saransh Chaudhary, the president of Global Critical Care (GCC), Venus Remedies said that: “We are committed to finding and developing the best solutions for global health challenges, the biggest part of which is bridging the gap between people and robust healthcare facilities. Our endeavor was to make sure that critical drugs such as intravenous paracetamol are available in our country to be manufactured generically and accessible at economical prices for the general public, particularly during these difficult times,", thus, implying that the opposition was filed to remove any IP related barriers that may arise which could impede healthcare accessibility for the general public. 

Author: Sanjana, a BBA LLB student of  Symbiosis Law School (Hyderabad), in case of any queries please contact/write back to Global Patent Filing at in case of any queries please contact/write back us at support@globalpatentfiling.com.