Output of biotech patents from academics is outpacing corporates

The public sector is driving the advances in biotechnology, forging ahead of companies in terms of intellectual property outputs, but the lead taken by academic institutions is almost entirely limited to the US, while Europe’s institutions are lagging behind those in Eastern Asia, according to the third annual report on biotech patenting by Marks & Clerk, the patent and trade mark attorneys.

In its Biotechnology Report 2007, Marks & Clerk finds academic filing outpaced the commercial sector by 51 per cent between 2002 and 2006, in a comparison of the top 20 patent filers. Only one company, Genentech, makes it into the top five patent assignees overall. 

Despite the lead taken by academia, Europe’s leading universities fail to make it into the top 20 academic filers. The list is dominated by US-based institutions, with the exception of the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the University of Tokyo – even though the EU havs the highest per-capita number of science and engineering graduates in the world. The best-scoring European body is the University of Oxford, whose Isis Innovations Ltd has 65 patent families. Harvard, meanwhile, has 75.

“The academic performance from Europe reflects badly on its leading institutions, which are still failing to translate their enormous skills base into a commercial reality,” said Gareth Williams, Partner at Marks & Clerk and co-author of the report.

“Although Europe is making strong advances in this area through the development of spin-out companies and increased patent licensing, it needs to move from a position of growth to being a challenger on the international stage. Academic patents are very valuable and are often highly cited as they cover fundamental technologies.”

For the key corporate assignees, Europe fares slightly better, with Novozymes coming fifth in a list of the top 20 and GlaxoSmithKline plc featuring also.“Whilst corporate Europe fares much better than its academic counterpart, corporate filing is necessarily more sporadic, focused on certain technologies, compared with the more sustained filing from the academic sector,” said Williams. “Now that the regulatory environment has improved at the European Patent Office, there is frankly no excuse for Europe not to make more commitment to overcome this historic gulf.”

Industry matures and becomes more commercial

The report finds also that the biotechnology sector is becoming much more mature and less speculative, focusing on specific technologies in a display of increasing commercialism. In 2002, patenting activity spread across a variety of patent classes, and included a high level of speculative, sequence-based inventions relating to genetic engineering. By 2006, this figure falls by 78 per cent, and the focus of research becomes much more concentrated. Almost half (45 per cent) of patents published in 2006 relate to the A61K class (peptides, antigens, antibodies and gene therapy).

This suggests that lessons have been learnt as to what is patentable and, more importantly, commercially worthwhile. Better informed business decisions are being made, which should translate more directly into products

As a result of this more focused and commercial activity, the number of biotechnology patents are falling. International patent applications filed through the international (PCT) route have dropped by 55 per cent from around 2,200 in 2002 to 1,000 in 2005.

But this decline is offset by a greater number of patents being filed at national patent offices, and a rise in the number of patents granted (up 18 per cent between 2002 and 2006). This supports the picture that the industry is becoming increasingly mature and commercial, with a smaller number of stronger filings being filed more widely across the globe, aiming to capture a greater market.

The report also attributes the rise in patent grants to better clarity from national patent offices. Europe has benefited from this the most, seeing an increase in its patent grants by 54 per cent from 2002 to 2006. This is due to the European Patent Office (EPO) issuing a number of Appeal decisions in recent years that have clarified the grounds for patentability of biotechnology inventions.

The report also highlights the emergence of Eastern Asia as a major force. While filing activity in Europe is substantial, it is showing little growth other than from Denmark, which has trebled its filings, from 75 in 2002 to 225 in 2006.

Japan is now the single largest filer outside of the US, having seen its filings rise by 250 per cent between 2002 and 2006. The report also notes the emergence of China, which has grown its patent filings from almost zero in 2002 to around 50 in 2005.

In the context of East Asian growth, the report finds that talent migration is starting to affect the biotechnology sector. Whereas Chinese inventors historically operated outside of China, increasing alignment between China’s patent filing and its inventors suggests that China is now drawing back its home-grown talent. By contrast, Denmark’s growth in filings is mainly attributable to a large pool of non-Danish inventors.