Analysis of trends and opportunities of anti-allergy patents in China from 1998 to 2008

Recent Pat Inflamm Allergy Drug Discov. 2010 Jun;4(2):130-7. doi: 10.2174/187221310791163116.

Abstract

The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased dramatically in recent decades. Holding patents is one of the means to protect good anti-allergy products. However, little is known of anti-allergy patent situation in China. The paper summarized and analyzed anti-allergy patents issued in China from January 1988 to September 2008. A total of 789 anti-allergy patents have been granted in China during the 20 years. China, European countries, USA, Japan and other countries possesses 44%, 21%, 19%, 12% and 4% of all of these anti-allergy patents respectively. Interestingly, 88% anti-allergy patents issued to Chinese are held by civilians, whereas vast majority of the patents issued to foreigners were held by pharmaceutical companies. All anti-allergy patents are focused on synthetic compounds, Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM),combinations of synthetic compounds and TCM (CST), biological products and medical apparatus. The anti-allergy patents in China mainly focus on well-known targets, such as histamine receptor and leukotrienes, which consist of 93% of patents for validated targets. Approximately 93% targeting diseases are bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. Our analyzing results indicate that there are great opportunities for application of patents on development of novel anti-allergic compounds and modernization of TCM in China.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Allergic Agents / pharmacology*
  • China / epidemiology
  • Drug Delivery Systems*
  • Humans
  • Hypersensitivity / drug therapy*
  • Hypersensitivity / epidemiology
  • Hypersensitivity / immunology
  • Leukotrienes / metabolism
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional / methods
  • Patents as Topic / statistics & numerical data
  • Receptors, Histamine / drug effects
  • Receptors, Histamine / metabolism

Substances

  • Anti-Allergic Agents
  • Leukotrienes
  • Receptors, Histamine