The Indian patent authorities have turned down the application by Eli Lilly to register the patent for their erectile dysfunction drug Cialis.

A local pharmaceutical manufacturer claims that the active ingredient of Cialis had been discovered in 1970 by the Central Drug Research Institute based in India.

While they admitted that they had no idea what the compound could be used for and were completely unaware that it might be used to cure and treat erectile dysfunction it had been registered 32 years ago.

Eli Lilly however claim that the tadalafil compound is not a derivative compound of the registered chemical but a completely novel and original substance. They also said that worldwide 72 other nations have given it patent protection based and that only India had rejected tadalafil as being the intellectual property of Eli Lilly.

Even China which has in the past been notoriously lax about enforcing patents of intellectual property has registered Cialis.

The patent office of India claims that just because you find a new use for an existing compound does not give you the right to patent it in India.

Eli Lilly have been able to secure a process patent for the manufacturing of Cialis which means that no other company can copy the way that they made it but they haven't been able to get a product patent meaning that other companies in India can compete with Eli Lilly and produce erectile dysfunction medication containing tadalafil.

At present Cialis is the second most popular erectile dysfunction medicine in the world after Viagra made by Pfizer.

Eli Lilly sold almost $1 billion worth of Cialis in 2006 and it is probable that the figures for 2007 will be even better.

For more news stories about Cialis please click here.