In a setback to US drug major Pfizer, the country's patent office has rejected for the second time, the patent application for its rheumatoid arthritis treatment drug Tofacitinib in India. Bharat N S, assistant controller of patents & designs, Mumbai said: "After having considered the submissions submitted by the applicant (Pfizer) in the hearing, the written submission and amended claims filed as well as in view of the discussions and findings by me, it is hereby ordered that the invention disclosed and claimed in the instant application is not considered as an invention under the provisions of the Act." The patent office in Mumbai was directed by Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) to re-consider Pfizer's patent application. Quoting an apex court judgment, the assistant controller said that the applicant will have to establish the therapeutic enhanced efficacy of the claimed compound over the base compound.