INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ICMR was not included in the original application
(Photo: Bloomberg)2 min read Last Updated : Jun 22 2024 | 11:14 PM IST
Bharat Biotech has added the Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) as co-owner of the Covid-19 vaccine patent.
Notably, Bharat Biotech was working on developing the Covid-19 vaccine as a top priority
to ensure product availability at the earliest
The Covid vaccine development of Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) was faced with multiple challenges and all organisations were
in a rush to develop vaccines and file the appropriate patents, prior to any other entity or prior to any data being published in
journals.
Bharat Biotech's covid vaccine application was filed in the above circumstances and since BBIL-ICMR agreement copy, being a
confidential document, was not accessible
Hence, ICMR was not included in the original application, the press release said.
Though this was purely unintentional, such mistakes are
not uncommon for the Patent office and therefore, Patent Law provides provisions to rectify such mistakes, the release added.
"BBIL has
great respect for ICMR and is thankful to ICMR for their continuous support on various projects therefore as soon as this inadvertent
mistake was noticed, BBIL has already started the process to rectify it by including ICMR as co-owner of the patent applications for
Covid-19 vaccine," the press release said.
It further informed that necessary legal documents are being prepared for it and BBIL will file
those documents in the Patent office as soon as they are ready and signed.
Notably, these actions are in accordance with the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) signed between ICMR-NIV Pune and BBIL for joint development of the Covid-19 vaccine in April 2020, the press release
informed.First Published: Jun 22 2024 | 11:02 PMIST
