Ranbaxy Filed Post-Grant Opposition for Valganciclovir

Ranbaxy has filed a post-grant opposition at Chennai Patent Office under section 25(2) of the Patents Act, 1970 against the grant of Indian Patent No. 207232 (read our earlier post) to Roche for Valganciclovir, questioning the validity of the patent on ground of enhanced efficacy under section 3(d). Earlier, during pre-grant opposition period Mumbai-based NGO Lawyers Collective contested the patent grant but the Chennai Patent Office later granted patent without hearing the opposition filed by Lawyers Collective. The ‘232 patent is having priority prior to 1995, which probably makes Valganciclovir a pre-1995 drug compound to be patented in India.