We are pleased to announce that the Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies (IUCIPRS), CUSAT, and Third World Network are jointly organizing the 4th edition of their workshop on ‘Patent Opposition in the Pharmaceutical Field’ between April 24-28, 2023. The last date to apply for the workshop is March 25, 2023. For further details, please read the call for applications below:
Workshop on ‘Patent Opposition in the Pharmaceutical Field’ [Kochi, April 24-28]
Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies (IUCIPRS), CUSAT, and Third World Network are jointly organizing the 4th edition of their workshop on ‘Patent Opposition in the Pharmaceutical Field’ between April 24-28, 2023. The mode of workshop is offline and is being held at Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies (IUCIPRS), CUSAT, Kochi.
Patents granted in the pharmaceutical field are interlinked to access to medicines. Patents allow the patent holder to charge exorbitant prices for the patented products. In the pharmaceutical field, multi-national companies seek multiple patents on existing life-saving drugs, prolong their monopoly and set high prices for them. This hinders access to medicines. Patent Opposition(s) in the pharmaceutical field is an important flexibility and an effective tool to ensure access to life-saving and affordable medicines. The opposition system helps to weed out frivolous patent applications and maintain the quality of the patents that are granted by the Patent Office.
In the past, patient groups, CSOs and networks have successfully challenged frivolous and non-genuine patent applications relating to HIV and Cancer. Patent opposition(s) against life-saving drugs have helped to reduce costs and have ensured access to affordable medicines in the developing world.
The workshop starts with a brief introduction to the patent system and its impact on accessing medicines for HIV, TB, Hep C, and COVID-19, patentability criteria, and how oppositions play a role in disallowing patents to frivolous and marginal improvements to existing drugs. After an introduction, the workshop will provide a detailed review of the patent opposition system in India, laws relating to patentability criteria- inventive step, novelty, and industrial capability, prior art search, and strategies in drafting an opposition. The workshop will also have multiple group work and aims to develop participants’ skills to review patent applications, and prior art, choose the grounds of opposition, and also draft the opposition.
The objective of this workshop is to create an understanding and provide hands-on training to work on opposition systems that can help in reducing patent monopoly and ensure access to medicines.
The workshop is for PG students pursuing masters in chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacy, law, early career researchers in science, faculty members from the above said disciplines, etc. who are beginners in the opposition field and is only open to candidates based in India.
The medium of instruction for the workshop is English and the workshop is residential. The organizers will bear all the expenses of accommodation, travel, and food. There is no registration fee for this workshop. Below is the link to the application form.
Last day to apply: March 25, 2023.
Application Form link: https://forms.gle/VdLLUvpinoWe27SL8.
For any queries, write to: campaign4access2medicinesindia@gmail.com.