As per patent office journal dated 16/07/2021, patent number 371495 has been granted to INDIAN COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH (ICMR) that is titled RNAI AGENT FOR INHIBITION OF CHIKUNGUNYA VIRUS. The primary independent claim of this patent states an RNAi agent for inhibition of Chikungunya virus comprising a sense strand having 15 or more contiguous nucleotides as set forth in Seq. ID 1 (GGA CAA CUU CAA UGU CUA U dTdT) and an antisense strand having 15 or more contiguous nucleotides as set forth in Seq. ID 9 (AUA GAC AUU GAA GUU GUC C dTdT) complementary to said sense strand for inhibition of the E2 gene of Chikungunya virus. Further this also comprises a sense strand having 15 or more contiguous nucleotides as set forth in Seq. ID 5 (GGU CGA AAU CGA CGU GGA A dTdT) and antisense strand having 15 or more contiguous nucleotides as set forth in Seq. ID 13 (UUC CAC GUC GAU UUC GAC C dTdG) complementary to said sense strand for inhibition of the nsP1 gene of Chikungunya virus.
During the patent prosecution, the patent examiner objected to this patent under section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act. The patent applicant responded to this objection by stating that changing even a base pair or one amino acid by human intervention results in a new form which is novel and not be so called ‘new form’ as described under section 3(d) of the Patents Act. Moreover, it was stated that the present invention also has a technical effect wherein 90% reduction in CHIKV replication has been shown in studies employing NIVsi-1, NIVsi-5 and Comb siRNA. Therefore, the claimed invention does not fall under the purview of section 3(d) of the Patents Act.
This patent falls under the category of Biotechnology. Overall, this patent covers the RNAi agent for inhibition of chikungunya virus in eukaryotes. Further, the invention covers RNAi based therapeutic strategies for controlling Chikungunya virus infection.
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Advocate Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter.
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