India foils British bid to patent pine bark, turmeric and tea as remedies
Q. Name the country that has foiled a British Company’s bid to patent use of turmeric, pine bark and tea for treating hair loss and succeeded in protecting its traditional knowledge?- Published on 27 Aug 15a. Sri Lanka
b. Indonesia
c. China
d. India
ANSWER: India
The UK based company Pangaea Laboratories Limited had filed patent application at European Patent office in February, 2011 on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. An official release said in New Delhi that the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a Unit of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research filed pre-grant opposition along with prior-art evidences. It proved that turmeric, pine bark and green tea, are being used as a treatment for hair loss, since long in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Unani. Till date CSIR-TKDL has achieved success in about 200 such cases without any cost.
