The Andhra Journal of Industrial News, May 2010, Issue 74, Vepachedu Educational Foundation

World Intellectual Property Day
This year’s World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2010, which also marked WIPO’s 40th anniversary, focused on how innovation technologies had created an interlinked and global society. World Intellectual Property Day is an annual event around which WIPO’s member states organize a range of activities to raise public awareness about the role of intellectual property (IP) in daily life, and to celebrate the invaluable contributions made by innovators and creators across the globe.

In his message to mark the day, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry highlighted the role of the IP system in the development and diffusion of these technologies Video. For example, thanks to the incentives inherent in the IP system, increasing numbers of people across the globe, including those in previously isolated communities, have access to advanced information and communication technologies. These facilitate access to wide-ranging sources of information and services that are transforming and enhancing the lives of millions.

The intellectual property system is a key part of the process by which innovation is linking the world. It facilitates the sharing of technological information, ensuring that vital know-how and ingenuity can be shared with other solution seekers and provides a framework for trading and disseminating technologies. The IP system also helps to structure the collaboration needed to meet the daunting global challenges confronting the world, such as climate change, food security, and access to health care.

As the Organization marked the 10th World Intellectual Property Day, WIPO was also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization. This Convention was crafted during a five-week-long conference of BIRPI member states (BIRPI is WIPO’s predecessor organization – the acronym stands for Bureaux internationaux réunis pour la protection de la propriété intellectuelle) in Stockholm in 1967.

The agreement reached at that time, and distilled into the text of the Convention, not only established WIPO but also revised the Organization’s two key treaties – the 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (then with 77 members, now 173); and the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (then with 58 members, now 164). It also modified five special agreements established under the Paris Convention, mainly dealing with the registration and classification of marks, registration of industrial designs, and the protection of appellations of origin.

In the last 40 years, the 6 original treaties managed by BIRPI have grown in number, in tandem with a changing technological landscape, and now count 24, including the WIPO Convention. The Organization’s member states currently stand at 184.
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2010/article_0010.html

Preliminary Injunction (Interim Injection) in India
“Establishment of a mere prima facie case is insufficient to grant an interim injunction, but due consideration to balance of convenience and irreparable injury was also to be given.”

Section 11 of the Trademarks Act, 1999 entails refusal of registration of trademark if it is found to be identical with or similar to an earlier registered trademark. The law prohibits the registration of an identical or phonetically similar mark, even though the same may have been registered in respect of goods or services, that are dissimilar. In such a scenario, the aggrieved party may move to Court and seek an order of interim injunction under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 to restrain the use of the mark in question during the pendency of the case. In Aveda Corporation v. Dabur India Ltd. {2010 (42) PTC 315 (Del.)} the Court revisited the considerations to be taken into account while pronouncing an interim injunction in a trademark dispute.
http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=99930&email_access=on&print=1

India’s Number 1 Pharmaceutical Company: Abbott
India, one of world's fastest-growing markets, generating nearly $8 billion in pharma sales this year; expected to more than double by 2015.

Further strengthening its global competitive position, Abbott announced a licensing and supply agreement with Zydus Cadila of India for a portfolio of pharmaceutical products that Abbott will commercialize in 15 emerging markets, enabling the company to further accelerate its emerging markets growth.

Abbott also announced the formal creation of a stand-alone Established Products Division (EPD) concentrated on expanding the market for Abbott's established pharmaceutical portfolio outside of the U.S., particularly focused in emerging markets. EPD will be led by Michael J. Warmuth, an Abbott leader with significant experience in Abbott's pharmaceutical business, who most recently led Abbott's Diagnostics Division. Abbott's growing portfolio of established products consists of branded generics – products that have significant brand equity in many international markets – providing durable, sustainable franchises for future growth. This complements Abbott's successful proprietary products business and proprietary pharmaceutical pipeline. Under the Zydus agreement, Abbott will gain rights to at least 24 Zydus products in 15 key emerging markets where Abbott has a strong and growing presence. The agreement also includes an option for the addition of more than 40 Zydus products to the collaboration. http://www.abbott.com/global/url/pressRelease/en_US/60.5:5/Press_Release_0856.htm

Abbott announced a definitive agreement with Piramal Healthcare Limited to acquire full ownership of Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business (Domestic Formulations), a leader in the Indian branded generics market, for an up-front payment of $2.12 billion, plus $400 million annually for the next four years, giving Abbott the No. 1 position in the Indian pharmaceutical market. This further accelerates Abbott's emerging markets growth following the recent acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals and announcements last week of Abbott's collaboration with Zydus Cadila as well as the creation of a new stand-alone Established Products Division to focus on expanding the global markets for its leading branded generics portfolio.

Throughout the past decade, Abbott has built a leading portfolio of branded generics, through its own products as well as those acquired with the 2001 acquisition of Knoll's pharmaceutical business. In 2007, the company established a separate business unit within its international pharmaceutical division dedicated to established products. Additionally, a new geographic region focused on Russia, India and China was created, which resulted in the doubling of Abbott's growth rate in those countries.

Most recently, the company acquired Solvay Pharmaceuticals, obtaining a diverse branded generics portfolio and providing significant critical mass in key emerging markets. As a result of these combined actions, Abbott is now among the leading multinational health care companies in numerous emerging markets. Approximately 20 percent of Abbott's pharmaceutical sales today are in emerging markets.

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 83,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.
http://www.abbott.com/global/url/pressRelease/en_US/60.5:5/Press_Release_0861.htm

The Indian Pharmaceutical Market
India is one of the world's fastest-growing pharmaceutical markets, due in large part to branded generics. The market will generate nearly $8 billion in pharmaceutical annual sales this year, a number that is expected to more than double by 2015. Abbott estimates the growth of its Indian pharmaceutical business with Piramal to approach 20 percent annually, with expected sales of more than $2.5 billion by 2020.

Branded generics have significant brand equity in many international markets, providing durable, sustainable franchises for future growth. Piramal markets the products in its Healthcare Solutions business in India only and does not market traditional generic products. Today, branded generics account for 25 percent of the global pharmaceutical market, have the majority of market share in the largest emerging markets, and are expected to outpace growth of patented and generic products.

The Mumbai-based Piramal Healthcare Solutions business has a comprehensive portfolio of branded generics with annual sales expected to exceed $500 million next year in India, and market-leading brands in multiple therapeutic areas, including antibiotics, respiratory, cardiovascular, pain and neuroscience. This business grew 23 percent in 2010 (fiscal year ended March 31, 2010), faster than the market in India. Piramal has a strong commercial presence, including the largest sales force in India with a unique model that includes dedicated sales personnel in rural areas inhabited by 70 percent of the population. The combined Abbott and Piramal sales forces will be the industry's largest in India.

Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business will become part of Abbott's newly created, stand-alone Established Products Division. Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business employs more than 5,000 people in India. Abbott, which is celebrating its 100th year in India, has more than 2,500 employees across all of its businesses there.

Viable Synthetic Genes and Cells
Scientists announced that for the first time they have created a complete set of synthetic genes and implanted them into living bacteria that thrive, an achievement that could ultimately lead to the creation of new synthetic biofuels and many other practical advances.
The bacteria in the experiments reproduce naturally but behave exactly the way their newly constructed genes direct, said noted human genome biologist J. Craig Venter, who has led a team of 23 scientists on the project for more than a decade. Their success was reported in the on-line journal Science Express, and heralded by the scientists as a major step toward the creation of artificial organisms that might serve as biofuels, speed up vaccine production or clean up toxic spills.

Herbal Supplements from China maybe Contaminated
Nearly all of the herbal dietary supplements tested in a Congressional investigation contained trace amounts of lead and other contaminants, below the thresholds considered dangerous, investigators found. The levels of heavy metals — including mercury, cadmium and arsenic — did not exceed thresholds considered dangerous. In some cases, the government has not set allowable levels of pesticides because of a paucity of scientific research. However, 16 of the 40 supplements tested contained pesticide residues that appeared to exceed legal limits, the investigators found.

Investigators found at least nine products that made apparently illegal health claims, including a product containing ginkgo biloba that was labeled as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and a product containing ginseng labeled as a treatment to prevent diabetes and cancer. They also described a salesperson at a supplement specialty store who claimed that a garlic supplement could be taken instead of blood pressure medication.

Any product that claims to treat, cure, prevent or mitigate a disease is considered a drug, and every drug must go through strict regulatory reviews. In 1994, Congress passed legislation that allowed supplement makers to sell products without first getting approval from the F.D.A. for their ingredients or for basic health claims. But scientific organizations have warned repeatedly since then that the F.D.A. should do more to ensure that the supplements are safe and that their health claims are substantiated.

In recent years, a vast majority of supplement suppliers have located overseas — principally in China. Nearly all of the vitamin C and many other supplements consumed in the United States are made from ingredients made in Chinese plants. Those plants are almost never inspected by the F.D.A. because the agency is not required to do so, has little money to do so and does not view the plants as particularly risky.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/health/policy/26herbal.html

Charles River in China
Until now, Charles River has been primarily known as a company that breeds mice and rats for laboratory experiments, and it has also offered animal testing services. WuXi PharmaTech, on the other hand, is best known for its drug discovery services. Charles River reported $1.2 billion in 2009 revenues, while WuXi PharmaTech booked $220 million. Charles River’s net income was $114 million, more than twice the $53 million of WuXi PharmaTech.

Before combining with WuXi PharmaTech, Charles River announced a major collaboration with Shanghai BioExplorer that formed a preclinical services CRO in Shanghai. The goal was to supply a venue for Charles River’s existing clients who wanted to have work done in China.

Scientists Spin
More than half of 72 reports examined by French and British researchers had dressed up their conclusions to make it seem as if new treatments were beneficial, even though they weren't according to the statistics in a report in Journal of the American Medical Association, May 26, 2010. Although reporters didn't examine the motives behind the spin, they found several dubious strategies to misrepresent data. Scientists would try to focus on only positive parts of their analysis, or compare patients before and after they received a treatment, without noting how patients responded to placebo. Because the placebo response can be quite powerful, particularly in psychiatry, this can easily distort research findings. Most of the authors might not be cheating, but they were just very enthusiastic about their results.

Autophagy to Treat Alzheimer’s
Autophagy, or "self-eating," is an essential component of cellular survival and defense against invading organisms. It is how the cell degrades and recycles material into amino acids that can be reused. Several neurological disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, are associated with the build up of polypeptides within neurons. Current evidence suggests that if the affected cells could break down these plaque build-ups it would greatly increase the chances of recovery. The ability to activate autophagy within these cells could prove invaluable in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

For more than two decades, the prevailing plan of attack for researchers and drug companies has been to find a way to remove sticky clumps of a protein called amyloid plaque from the brain. However, it has become clear in the past decade that instead of sticky plaques, free-floating bits of a toxic protein called amyloid beta is responsible for killing off brain cells in Alzheimer's patients. If the theory is right, then drugs that target plaque, including bapineuzumab, developed by Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Elan, may be aiming at the wrong target.

Artificial Antibodies
Antibodies are the immune system's warriors. Their role is to pinpoint disease pathogens, attaching to them and neutralizing their effects. Though antibodies are of great value for biomedical research, the process of creating them has been time-consuming and tedious. Researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have developed a way of making synthetic antibodies, by carrying out the usual steps in reverse. To accomplish this, a 20-unit random sequence of amino acids are joined together like beads on a necklace to form a peptide. By uniting two of these peptide chains, linked together by means of a chemical scaffold, a binding molecule or ligand is created, which can attach to a specific protein with high affinity. The resulting synbody may then be screened against a multitude of human proteins, to find its mate. The strategy relies on the fact that the binding affinity of two such amino acid sequences is the product of their combined affinity, allowing two peptides with weak attraction to a given protein to be joined to produce a synbody with strong binding properties. Remarkably, the assemblage of both the individual peptides and the synbody are carried out randomly. The raw material for the synbody comes from a library of 10,000 peptides, with each amino acid sequence randomly composed. ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100519173100.htm

Pfizer Continues to Reorganize
Pfizer Global Manufacturing announced plans to reconfigure its worldwide plant network to create a fully aligned manufacturing and supply organization from the combined networks of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Wyeth. This implementation of the first phase of Pfizer's previously announced Plant Network Strategy includes recommendations to cease operations at eight manufacturing sites in Ireland, Puerto Rico, and the United States by the end of 2015, as well as to reduce operations at six other plants in Germany, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The planned reductions will increase manufacturing efficiency and lower costs by more effectively using resources and technology, improving plant processes, eliminating excess capacity, and better aligning production with market demand. These changes will result in a global reduction of approximately 6,000 jobs over the next several years. Product transfers will expand the roles of a number of plants in Pfizer's manufacturing network.

Takeda Reorganizes
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) announced the start of its 2010-2012 Mid-Range Plan to transform the Company into a new Takeda and to cut 1900 jobs, mainly in the US. Takeda positions the period covered by the 2010-2012 Mid-Range Plan as a time of transformation, in which the Company will move forward from its past successes and grow into a new Takeda, setting a course for further development. To achieve the goals of this Mid-Range Plan, the Company has decided on a new management policy referred to as the Vision, which focuses on Company activities on the themes of Innovation, Growth, and Culture. These are the key concepts in the transformation that Takeda will engage in ensuring sustained growth in the medium- to long-term. During its nearly 230-year history, Takeda has often encountered difficulties, which it has overcome to achieve growth by implementing its corporate philosophy of Takedaism.