Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical consultant and inventor Dr Sanjay Agrawal has patented a formulation to treat liver disorders. He has got patent approval from the Indian patent controller for the formulation under patent number 332746.
The patent given for the formulation covers liver disorders like alcoholic, non-alcoholic, viral and non-viral hepatitis. The patent comes through at a time when there is an increased need to cater to liver disorder patients in the country.
The patented formulation is a breakthrough in the prevention and treatment of liver disorders because liver disorders account for approximately 2 million deaths per year worldwide, 1 million due to complications of cirrhosis and 1million due to viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Explains Dr Agrawal, “Today, many brands are available in the market but are not patent protected. I have patented the formulation as this would protect it from any form of unethical marketing, patent infringement suits, legal hassles and achieve the objective of patient safety considering the humongous need for cost-effective and efficacious medicines in India in the liver disorders segment.”
In general, liver disorders are of four types–alcoholic, non- alcoholic, viral and non-viral. The new invention which is now patented is a revolution in the world to treat liver disorder.
The patent has been granted as it has satisfied two patentability criteria under the Patents Act 1970 like novelty which is a vital and absolute condition for patentability and second criteria of industrial application.
Dr Agrawal has 40 patents to his credit and 22 of them have been commercialized. He is also Editor-in-Chief of IJM Today and a member of the editorial board of QualPharma and The Antiseptic journals. The inventor has contributed immensely in peer-reviewed journals in new innovations in the nutraceuticals and drugs domain. He has also developed in the past patented formulation for pregnancy-induced leg cramps, osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy and an oral spray for neurological disorders.
According to gastroenterologist and hepatologist, Dr. Kieron Lim, from Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore, “Common causes of liver cirrhosis are hepatitis B and fatty liver. Compounding problem further, 75 percent of people with hepatitis B live in Asia and Fatty Liver is the most common problem in the world impacting people in the age group of 40 to 60 years. The estimated prevalence of fatty liver is 10% to 40% in the general population and 70% in diabetics.”
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease, affecting 17 percent to 46 percent of the developed world. Left undiagnosed, it may lead to complications such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.