Drug patents? India is 2nd globally

India [ Images ] has received 1,312 applications for patent of pharmaceutical products, becoming only the second country after the United States to get a large number such requests.

The US, which topped the list of countries that received patent application for pharma products, recieved 2,111 applications. Germany [ Images ] finished third with 1,090 applications.

For the fourth position, there was a relatively close competition between the United Kingdom and Switzerland [ Images ], which received 573 and 538 applications, respectively.

Japan [ Images ] secured the sixth place in the list with 434 applications, Sweden seventh with 351, France [ Images ] eighth with 289, Denmark ninth with 261 while Belgium came tenth with 170 applications.

Ten countries including United Arab Emirates [ Images ], Chile, Egypt [ Images ], Hawaii, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Russia [ Images ], Saudi Arabia, Solomon Island and Slovakia had only one application each.