# \[e-drug\] Global patent database for pharmaceuticals **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [August 8, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335 "2008-08-08T08:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ziyan\_Wang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ziyan\_Wang](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Ziyan_Wang)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335/1 "2008-08-08T08:15:00Z")
E-DRUG: Global patent database for pharmaceuticals ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear e-druggers I am currently working on generic promotion. I am wondering if you happen to know if there is a global patent database for pharmaceuticals which includes most medicines in the market and indicates the patent status, the date of patent expiration, generic competitioners, market share or pricing, etc, etc.? Hopefully it can be freely accessed. Many thanks, Ziyan Wang Research Assistant in LSE Health email: z.wang3@lse.ac.uk or ziyan.wang2007@gmail.com ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Weissman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@Robert\_Weissman](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Robert_Weissman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335/2 "2008-08-08T15:01:44Z")
E-DRUG: Global patent database for pharmaceuticals (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Ziyan Wang, There is no such database. Many of us are advocating for creation of a database, and this has been a contentious issue at the World Health Organization's Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. Here is a short background paper we did making the case for a patent database: [http://www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/archives/152-The-Importance-of-a-Global-Patent-Database-for-Pharmaceuticals.html](http://www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/archives/152-The-Importance-of-a-Global-Patent-Database-for-Pharmaceuticals.html) MSF in conjunction with WHO has in the past generated a database for patent status of ARVs. This is contained in the paper: Determining the patent status of essential medicines in developing countries. Health economics and drugs. EDM series No.17 (WHO/EDM/PAR/2004.6). The paper is linked here: [http://mednet2.who.int/sourcesprices/references.htm](http://mednet2.who.int/sourcesprices/references.htm) This focuses on selected countries only. WHO has done follow-up work on this for ARVs, but the results remain unpublished. As you'll see from looking at the material, there are very major obstacles to any person determining patent status for a drug globally, or even in a single country. (Indeed, we know from experience that sometimes even a national patent office is unable to determine whether there are patents covering a drug.) The United States and Canada have systems that enable you to check easily whether a drug is patented in those countries, although at least in the case of the United States, this system does not cover most biologics, which constitute many of the most important new medicines. The searchable U.S. system is available here: [http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/](http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/) You search for drug name, click on the formulation you want, then click on patent and exclusivity information. This does not tell you whether the claimed patents are valid -- this can typically only be tested in litigation -- but it does tell you what is claimed. It does not follow that patent claims in the United States have also been made in other countries. For newer drugs, however, it is likely that similar claims (at least on patents on the molecule) have been filed in other industrialized countries, in most middle-income countries, and in some poorer countries (depending in part on what conditions the molecule is thought to treat). Robert Weissman Essential Action E-mail: \ ---
**Author:** ![Fortunak\_Joseph\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bcef8e/32.png) [@Fortunak\_Joseph\_M](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Fortunak_Joseph_M)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335/3 "2008-08-13T16:22:07Z")
E-DRUG: Global patent database for pharmaceuticals (4) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Ziyan, The world would be much more logical if there were such a database, wouldn't it? Most drugs are "protected" by a family of patents that cover the active ingredient, formulation, crystalline forms, processes for manufacturing and use in various indications. Whether these patents are in force in various countries globally can also be very difficult to ascertain with certainty. Because of this there are very often disagreements between originator and generic companies on the dates when patent coverage expires on many drugs - leading to many, many lawsuits. This is what makes such a database very difficult to create and even more difficult to have complete confidence in. Joseph Joseph M. Fortunak Associate Professor, Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Howard University 525 College Street NW Washington, DC 20069 USA +1 202 806 6880 (office) +1 301 928 7568 (mobile) jfortunak@comcast.net (preferred) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Outterson1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@Kevin\_Outterson1](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Kevin_Outterson1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335/4 "2008-08-13T17:59:43Z")
E-DRUG: Global patent database for pharmaceuticals (5) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- One alternative would be a globalized version of the FDA Orange Book, which addresses some of these issues. Kevin Outterson Boston University School of Law E-mail: mko@bu.edu ---
**Author:** ![Michele\_Forzley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Michele\_Forzley](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Michele_Forzley)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-global-patent-database-for-pharmaceuticals/30335/5 "2008-08-13T18:16:43Z")
E-DRUG: Global patent database for pharmaceuticals (6) the world would have to be logical to have one! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear e-druggers, Indeed the world would have to act more logically to have such a data base. To have one several factors must be in place. Some of these are that national IP and drug laws are sufficiently harmonized that the data fields were indeed equally comparable, that countries have (1) functioning electronic systems that (a) identify what is patented, (b) that this information is cross referenced with what drugs hold marketing approval, and (c) with trademark status. National systems would have to be harmonized with the global data base so it could be kept up to date. In addition, since patent status is but only one barrier to access, methods to identify and reduce other non-tariff barriers to drug access are as important and I would argue more important since most drugs are off patent. Non-tariff barriers include the multiple regulatory regimes many of which lack harmony with other regimes and are inadequate and/or non-transparent. In addition there is no central data base in which national health and drug laws can be found for use by any one who might need such information. Yes the WHO has the digest of health legislation but it is not complete by any means - developing countries and least developed country legal information (of any sort) is very hard to find if it can be found at all. Since 2004 the Health Law Institute at Widener School of Law has been developing such a data base - it is no small feat but it is doable with adequate funding. A patent data base could be integrated easily. Michele Forzley, JD, MPH Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law Health Law Institute Widener School of Law Wilmington, DE 301-565-0680 mdforzley@widener.edu