India prevents Britain from patenting Ayurvedic hair loss treatment

The traditional Indian remedy for treating hair loss a medicinal composition of turmeric, pine bark and green tea, has been used in Ayurveda and Unani for generations. Recently, a British company, Pangaea Laboratories Limited, attempted to patent this composition. However, the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR-TKDL), challenged this patent application filed at the European Patent Office. Read: Hair loss problem? Try these 9 yoga poses to beat it!

India foiled the patent attempt by filing a pre-grant opposition along with evidence from TKDL, proving that this is being used as a treatment for hair loss in Ayurveda and Unani, the science and technology ministry said on Sunday. The Britain-based company had filed the patent application in February 2011 while CSIR-TKDL registered its opposition in January 2014 after the patent application was published online following which the patent application was withdrawn on June 29. Till date, CSIR-TKDL Unit has achieved success in about 200 such cases without any cost. Read: DON T miss out on these 6 vitamins to PREVENT hair loss

With inputs from IANS

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