UK co bid to patent ginger cure foiled

India has foiled an attempt by a British pharmaceutical company to claim a patent on using ginger for the treatment of cough and cold.
NicholasJohn Larkins,London,filed a patent application (no. GB2436063), titled, “Pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of excess mucous production”, on March 16, 2006, at the British patent office. It claimed the usefulness of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and kutki plant (Picrorhiza kurroa) for the treatment of cough andlung diseasestobeits novel and unique finding.
However, Indians have been gulping down steaming hot a d r a k c h a i to cure a bad cough or cold for centuries. The department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) intervened and provided evidence from age-old ayurveda and unani books, dating back to the 18th century, which spoke about ginger and kutki being used alone or in conjunction with other ingredients for the treatment of cough, bronchial asthma and lung diseases.
“Within a periodof twoweeksof India providing evidence, the five-year-old attempt to pirate India’s traditional medicinalknowledgewasstruckdown by theUK patentofficein 2011,” a health ministry officialsaid.Thebooksthatwere referredto as evidence by CSIR included I l a a j- a l-A mr a a z (18th Century), B h a i s a j y a R a t n av a l i and B h a r a t a B h a i s a j y a R a t n a k a r a (1000 BC), B ay a a z-e-K a b i r(1938 AD), M u h e e t-e-A z a m (19th century) and K h a z a a i n-a l-A d- v i afrom the 20th century.
“India throughtheTraditionalKnowledgeDigitalLibrary (TKDL)submittedits prior art evidences on April 25, 2011. The examiner terminated the patent application before grant,” added the official. Ginger has been a popular Indian home remedy for treating cough and cold. Ginger tea consumedhotisknown to provide reliefto the throat. At times, it is mixed with lemon and honey. The high concentration of vitamin C in the drink improves resistance levels, lowers toxicity of the infection and reduces duration of the cold.
Till about 10 years ago, about 2,000 wrong patents concerning indigenous systems of medicine were being granted annually at international level due to lack of evidence provided by India. TKDL has been a real boon for India. Over 2.26 lakh rare medical formulations which were part of the ancient Indian texts have been dug out, transcribed, documented and digitized into the path-breaking TKDL to protect them from bio-pirates.
This includes 1.22 lakh unani, 90,000 ayurveda and15,000 Siddha formulations, which have been transcribed by the department of AYUSH and CSIR from ancientIndian textswritten originally in Sanskrit, Arabic, Urdu, Persian and Tamil.
Source:TNN