Patents, in-depth Flashcards
What is the Pharma IP Paradox?
- Drug development is an extremely expensive and lengthy process, usually 10 – 15 years
- Drug candidates are kept secret for as long as possible
- Every single day of patent protection is valuble
- Patent term is limited, maximum 25 years (incl. extensions)
- Patent term is counted from the day of filing
- But patent applications are filed very early in the process!
- Why do you file early in the process?
What’s the rough timeline for the development of a pharmaceutical product?
~ year 0-5 discovery
~ year 5-10 IND
~ year 10-12 NDA
~ year 12–> Marketing approval
What’s the absolute longest term one can have patent protection for?
25½ years
- 20 years patent
- 5 years SPC/PTE
- ½ year for trials on children
What is a target and why is it called “target”?
A “target” is a native protein or similar in the body, which is related to one or more diseases or medical
conditions, a.k.a. “Indications”
Called “targets” because “shot” at with drug molecules, to modify their activity in order to obtain some desirable therapeutic effect
(the chili example)
What do you do during “hit identification” / “lead discovery”?
You find “keys” that fits to the “locks” (the targets).
You do this by High-Throughput Screening (HTS), where a large library of chemicals are tested for their ability to modify the target.
what is HTS?
High-Throughput Screening
What is the purpose of hit identification / lead discovery?
To find a Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR)
What is SAR?
Structure-Activity Relationship: the essential core of the drug molecule.
What is “lead optimisation”?
When you modify a promising lead compound to optimise efficacy and minimise side effects.
This often results in new compunds - “New Chemical Entities” (NCE)
This process results in a shortlist of possible candidate drugs.
What is NCE?
New Chemical Entities.
See lead optimisation.
What is Candidate Drug Nomination?
It’s the phase of identifying a candidate drug that meets most criteria and passes additional evalutions, such as sasfety assessments and process chemistry studies.
When does the transfer from the Discovery Team to the Development Team usually take place?
During the Candidate Drug Nomination.
What happens during Preclinical Development?
To obtain sufficient information to do a proper risk assessment for the product’s use in humans.
Also you develope formulations of the drug to optimise it as a pill (or for other means of administration).
What happens during Phase 1?
Phase I: In healthy volunteers to determine safety
and dosing
What happens during Phase 2?
Phase II: To get an initial reading of efficacy and further explore safety in small numbers of sick patients
What happens during Phase 3?
− Phase III: Large trials to determine safety and efficacy
in sufficiently large numbers of patients
How long is the average pharma process?
10-15 years.
Name some peculiarities in the pharma industry
It is highly regulated and controlled. You cannot market the product before you have finished development.
It is a lengthy process: some 10-15 years of development (which only gives you 5-10 years of patent protection)
There is “high attrition”, meaning that most compounds/projects fail and never becomes products. Successful compounds/products must finance the failed ones.
The development of compounds/products is extremely costly, therefore it is very profitable to produce copies in absence of IP protection - aka generics.
What is “generics”?
Copies of compounds/products that have lost their IP protection.
Who gives approval to pharmaceuticals, and with what limitation?
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) in the US,
EMA (European Medicines Agency) in Europe
You only get approval for specified indications.
What is “off-label” use?
When doctors (when they are allowed to) prescribe drugs for other indications than what they were approved for.
Pharma companies may not promote their drugs for non-approved indications.
What is “PTE”?
Patent Term Extension
US?
What is “SPC”?
Supplementary Protection Certificate.
Europe?
Roughly, what is the ratio of Attrition?
Out of 10 000 compounds, 5 make it to phase 1, and 1 becomes an approved drug.
Name some consequences of Attrition.
The one molecule that makes it to the end (becoming approved) must be very well protected.
But you do not know which molecule that will be, when you start screening the 10 000 molecules.
–> all molecules must be well protected!
Also, the one that finally makes it will most likely be challenged in litigation.
–> it must stand the test!
How much more costly is the R&D of pharma than other fields?
Roughly 2 or 2.5 times as costly as: computer stuff Aerospace Motor vehicles and parts telecom Machinery
What happens when the patent for a compound expires?
There is a very steep decline in price, as generics enter the market.
So why do you file your patents so early in the process?
The Pharma IP Paradox
Many competitors focuses on the same diseases: this means that they have the same Targets.
Since they are shooting pretty much the same substances at the same target, they will most likely get the same hits.
(You buy libraries of test molecules to shoot, and there aren’t that many suppliers of that).
–> you are most likely going to end up with the same SARs and optimise them to the same compounds.
There is a high likelihood of arriving at the same result, and the First to File gets the patent!!!
When is it time to file for the first patent applications?
During the Lead Optimisation
What is the first patent applications composed of?
NCEs based on SARs
What do you do if the SAR is not patentable?
Patent the specific compound.
Give an example of a 1st Medical Indication
“Claim 30. The compound according to any one of claims 1 to 27, for use in therapy. “