GlaxoSmithKline tops list of organizations filing biotech-related drug patents
Research conducted by Current Drugs Ltd.
According to a recent study by Current Drugs Ltd. (London), GlaxoSmithKline is the number one filer of biotechnology-related pharmaceutical patents. The study of international patents focused on therapeutic inventions recorded by Current Drugs' Investigational Drugs database (IDdb3) between 1995 and 2000. It revealed that, along with specialist biotechnology companies and universities, several major pharmaceutical companies are also heavily involved in this field.
Merck, Aventis, and Roche are all in the top 10, but a number of other leading "big pharma" companies such as Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson have been significantly less active in their patenting activity, filing fewer than 60 biotech patents during the study period.
The top 10 filers are:
- GlaxoSmithKline plc (747 patents)
- Incyte Genomics Inc. (453)
- Aventis SA (351)
- United States Government (334)
- Roche Holding AG (306)
- Human Genome Sciences Inc. (286)
- University of California (262)
- American Home Products (235)
- Merck & Co. Inc. (223)
- Chiron Corp. (184)
"In the future, smaller companies and non-industrial institutions may have a greater stake in drug intellectual property," Ian Tarr, director of Current Drugs Ltd., stated in a company release. "There is a growing trend of collaboration and outsourcing between big pharmaceutical companies and smaller, more specialized institutions, as the larger companies look for ways to fill the gaps in their product portfolios. For instance, J&J has a major collaboration with Incyte Pharmaceuticals who come in second in our ranking.
"It is interesting that out of the top 50 biotech patent filers, 20 are non-industrial institutions—mainly universities," Tarr continued. "They are an excellent source of licensing opportunities for our corporate clients and the IDdb is used increasingly as the database of choice to identify such leads."
The search pulled up a total of 14,166 patents from 1,705 companies/institutes and 587 individuals. Patents from subsidiary companies were counted under the parent company and only the first patent for an invention was included in the calculations (subsequent filings in other countries are therefore not "double counted") unless there was a new use for the invention.
The findings are backed up by Current Drugs' sister company Current Patents Ltd., which specializes in patent analysis. Peter Steele, managing director of Current Patents, commented: "It's noteworthy that these figures confirm a trend in increasing patent output by academic and public institutions. In fact, when we looked at biotech patenting in 1998 we found that collaboration is also likely to be higher among academic or public institutions. And when a company does file a joint application it will probably be with an academic institution rather than another commercial organization. Notable exceptions to this rule included SmithKline Beecham, Novartis, and Human Genome Sciences."
Current Drugs Ltd. is a supplier of intelligence services for pharmaceutical R&D. Headquartered in London, the company also has offices in Philadelphia and Tokyo. It provides databases, journals, and customized software services to the international pharmaceutical industry and is part of the privately owned Current Science Group of companies.
For the full ranking list of 1,705 companies/institutes in an MS Excel file or hard copy, contact Christine Suggars, media and communications manager for Current Drugs Ltd., at +44-20-7631-9147 or christine.suggars@current-drugs.com.
Source: Current Drugs Ltd.
With contributions from Jim Pomager
Assistant Editor, Pharmaceutical Online