Zhang Tianqi,Chen Yuwen

(School of Business Administration,Shenyang Pharmaceutical University,Shenyang 110016,China)

Abstract Objective To find out several patented technologies of antihypertensive drugs with the most market value through analysis,and provide a reference for the research and development of enterprises.Methods The most valuable patented technologies of antihypertensive drugs from 2009 to 2019 were analyzed to explore the patent layout and technical characteristics of the main patent applicants,and then the key directions of their research and development were gotten.Results and Conclusion Based on the method of patent analysis,five patents with the most market value are extracted to provide important technical support and market value reference for the research and development of generic drugs or new drugs.

Keywords:antihypertensive drug; patented generic drug; patented technology; market value

Hypertension has always been a high risk factor for cardiovascular disease[1].Besides,its incidence rate is quite high in the world,and its curative effect is not ideal.According to the literature data,the prevalence rate of hypertension among residents over 18 years old in China in 2012 is 25.2%[2],and the rate increased significantly with the age.According to the statistics of the sixth national population census in 2010,the number of hypertension patients in China is 270 million[3].In recent years,the reform of the national medical and health system and the prevention and control strategy of diseases have been continuously inclined to the prevention and control of chronic diseases such as hypertension and medical services.It is expected that the centralized procurement system of drugs in 4+7 cities will be enforced nationwide before 2020,which will have a great impact on the selection and use of hypertension drugs.In addition,the national organization of the drug centralized purchasing pilot is a major reform of the previous drug centralized purchasing system.Its purpose is to enable people to use the same good quality medicine with lower price[4].The imported drugs will not dominate in the market but the excellent Chinese drugs will be protected by the national policy.Besides,domestic patent generics will gain big market share in the world’s largest antihypertensive drug market[5].High-quality domestic generics will get more profits by replacing imported drugs,which in turn will stimulate drug companies and research institutions to develop better antihypertensive drugs.

With the promotion of related national policies on graded diagnosis and treatment and separation of medicine,the annual growth rate of the amount and frequency of hypertensive drugs used in secondary and tertiary hospitals gradually slows down.Therefore,each medical unit should timely prescribe drugs to patients according to the newly adjusted national essential antihypertensive drugs and medical insurance catalogue[6].With the increasing market demand for antihypertensive generic drugs in the future,it can be speculated that the number of patent applications for antihypertensive drugs will also rise.

1 Status of international patent application for antihypertensive drugs

The keyword for searching the intellectual property rights in China’s patent database is“antihypertensive drugs”,and the retrieval time is January 29,2020.A total of 6 958 patent documents are retrieved and 2 879 patent documents are valid after screening.Based on this,the world’s most valuable patent technologies of antihypertensive drugs in the past decade are analyzed.

According to the retrieved results,it can be seen that the authorized proportion of antihypertensive drugs in 2013 is as high as 57.52%,reaching a peak.From 2009 to 2013,the ratio of authorized patents to applied patents increased year by year,indicating there were more antihypertensive drug patents in these years.Many enterprises and companies were keen on the research and development of antihypertensive drugs.Therefore,more antihypertensive patents were acquired.A great number of companies got huge market value returns.However,the antihypertensive patent applications began to step into recession from 2013.The ratio of authorized patents to applied patents started to decline.In 2017,the patent applications for antihypertensive fallen to 493,indicating the global decline in antihypertensive patent applications.On the one hand,perhaps the global patent development of antihypertensive in the world has reached a bottleneck and more innovative technologies need to be explored.On the other hand,the number of patent applications in recent years has declined at a constant rate,showing that antihypertensive drug-related technologies reach a mature and stable stage.For China,with the national healthcare administration’s drug procurement policy in full force in 2019,it is the best time for China’s pharmaceutical companies to develop generic antihypertensive drugs or new ones.As shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Global patent application trend of antihypertensive drugs

2 Global technology distribution

The distribution of technologies classifies the patents of antihypertensive drugs to find the technology focus.It also helps people to understand the different technologies and potential opportunities that can be applied in the patent field of antihypertensive drugs.

Fig.2 Technical field distribution in years for patent applications

It can be seen from Fig.2 that in the past 10 years,A61K31 ranks the first in patent technologies in the world for antihypertensive drugs,which represents the pharmaceutical formulations containing organic active ingredients.The number of patents is 2 927,accounting for 41.07% of the total.The second is A61P9,which represents the drugs for cardiovascular diseases.Its number of patents is 2 043,accounting for 29.36%.The third is A61K9,which represents the pharmaceutical formulations with special physical properties.Its number of patents is 1 431,accounting for 20.57%.At present,there are many kinds of hypertension drugs.Because of the adverse reactions caused by the long-term use of antihypertensive drugs,it is urgent to develop high-quality antihypertensive drugs with less adverse reactions.The distribution of patent technologies can provide China’s pharmaceutical enterprises with the latest information of the effective technologies.Enterprises and research institutions can realize technological innovation by understanding the global technology distribution and merging or screening patented technologies[7].

3 Global industry benchmark comparison

The industry benchmark comparison chart can compare the selected patent portfolio with the average patent value level of relevant industries.It is helpful to evaluate the innovation ability in the patent field of antihypertensive drugs.Related industries refer to the popular drugs with a large number of patent applications,such as anti-tumor drugs,antidiabetes drugs,anti-HIV drugs,anti-hyperlipidemic drugs,and anti-gastric ulcer drugs[8].In Fig.3,a total of 10 brief international patent classification(IPC) groups are selected.They represent the average value of related industries and the average value of antihypertensive drugs.From the figure,it can be seen that in the 10 selected IPC groups,the average value of antihypertensive drugs is significantly higher than that of related industries.Among the A61P25 groups,the patent value of antihypertensive drugs is the highest.This phenomenon may be due to the increase of drug resistance rate and adverse reactions of antihypertensives with the increasing number of hypertension patients worldwide.And the number of patients who use antihypertensives in two or three combinations also increases,which leads to the increasing demand for antihypertensives,indicating that the market demand for antihypertensives is very large.

Fig.3 Comparison of industry benchmarks

4 Key patent analysis

4.1 Top 10 cited patent applications

The more frequently a patent is cited,the more valuable the patent technology is in its technical field.The technology it contains is the core technical information in this field.From the analysis,we can find the information of top10 cited patent applications,as shown in Table 1 and Fig.4.

Table 1 Top 10 cited applications of antihypertensive drugs

(to be continued)

Continued Table 1

Fig.4 Top 10 cited applications of antihypertensive drugs

4.2 Top 10 patents of the same family

A patent of the same family refers to multiple patent applications filed by applicants for an invention in different countries with one priority date.For the analysis of patent families,we can obtain the information on the patents that have applied for international patents and their protection strategies in the global scope.Table 2 and Fig.5 show the top 10 patents with the larger family.

Table 2 Top 10 patents of the same family for antihypertensive drugs

(to be continued)

Continued Table 2

Fig.5 Top 10 patents of the same family for antihypertensive drugs

4.3 Top 10 patients with the largest number of claims

In the analysis of patent information,the top 10 patents with the largest number of claims can be mined,and the number of claims of these patents can be understood,indicating that the technology covers a wider range than other patents in the same technical field.These patented technologies play a more leading role in the field.See Table 3 and Fig.6 for the patents with the number of claims ranking top 10.

Table 3 Top 10 patents with the largest number of claims for antihypertensive drugs

Fig.6 Top 10 patents with the largest number of claims for antihypertensive drugs

5 Top 5 most valuable patents

The most valuable patent refers to the simple family with the highest patent value in the technical field,and the patent life means the protected period of the patent.Therefore,from these two perspectives,the five most valuable patent technologies in the field of antihypertensive technology are excavated as follows.

(1) CN103864677b is a compound suitable for regulating blood uric acid level,or a preparation containing the compound and its use method.It has been protected for 9 years with 101 simple family patents,and its expiration date is 2031.

(2) HK1180337A1 is a compound that can regulate the level of uric acid in blood.At present,its patents have been protected for 9 years.It has 85 simple family patents and its expiration date is 2028.

(3) TWI593409B is a dexmedetomidine premix,which has been protected for 7 years.It has 66 simple family patents and its expiration date is 2033.

(4) HK1175465A1 is a drug combination product of angiotensin receptor antagonists and NEP inhibitor.At present,its patents have been protected for 7 years.It has 72 simple family patents and its expiration date is 2026.

(5) CN104744475B,a mTOR kinase inhibitor for tumor indications and diseases related to mTOR/PI3K/ AKT/ pathway,has been protected for 10 years.It has 102 simple family patents and its expiration date is 2029.

The above five patents are all technologies worthy of investment,and they can help relevant units to develop or produce new antihypertensive drugs[9].Most importantly,the patentees should pay annual fees in time to avoid unnecessary losses.