R&D of HIV treatments at crossroads

Nov 4 2009

IP Overview HIV Therapy 2009” ( www.frinnov.fr/en/ip-overview/sciences-de-la-vie/hiv-therapy-2.html ) establishes a panorama of the patents claiming “HIV and AIDS treatments” and analyses the key and emerging thematic and the strategic positions of the actors involved in this sector. In order to fully analyze this field, the information coming from 6800 published patents and patent applications was aggregated.

Highlights of this report

This analysis shows a decorrelation between major patent owners and market leaders. Companies having the largest patent portfolio claiming HIV treatments, Pfizer and Merck (350 patents fillings, each) do not belong to the HIV market leaders while Gilead with only 44 patent filings has the best market results. This position is therefore not a result of internal research but is based on the acquisition of key molecules such as emtricitabine coming from a collaboration between IOCB and Leuven Katholic University and tenofovir from Emory University.

In addition, according to Sylvain Goiran, IP Overview principal analyst: ”Despite the huge increase in HIV market and the needs for new therapies, multiple signals are showing that HIV R&D is running short of new thematic and is practically collapsing since 2005 with a 40% drop in the number of patent applications”. Fewer filings means fewer new molecules entering clinical trials and thus fewer chances for new drugs on the market in the future. There is undoubtedly a need to get back to basic research. It is therefore a unique opportunity for academic research to play a crucial role in this field in the coming years.

Indeed, like Gilead, pharmaceutical companies could adapt their strategies and go for “open innovation” by buying or licensing active molecules from academic laboratories or other companies.

So, a deep knowledge of the patent portfolio of HIV therapy can help companies to identify players that patented molecules acting on new therapeutic targets.

Key reasons to purchase this report:

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of why the R&D of HIV treatments is at a crossroads, as can be seen on the patent perspective. It gives detailed information about some of the key aspects of the pharmaceutical industry and helps clients to identify the driving forces and current trends in this field. “This represents a fully new approach which is complementary with classical market studies.” concludes Sylvain Goiran.

For more information visit www.frinnov.fr/en/ip-overview/sciences-de-la-vie/hiv-therapy-2.html

Key items

• Outline of the market and the pipeline
• Protection strategies:
  • Evolution of patent filings
  • Priority patent applications
  • Extensions
  • Analysis of industrial patents over time
  • Study of the granting of US and European patents
• Topology of patents in the sector
  • Breakdown of patents into therapeutic targets, applications, class of compounds and cross-analyses
• Keys applicants and key inventors
• Key and emerging thematic
• Conclusion