Mining for gold and avoiding land mines

30-11-2009

Helene Carlson and Elizabeth Haanes

Remarkable market opportunities exist for developers of infectious disease-related technologies, but developers need to be aware of the intricacies of patenting, say Helene Carlson and Elizabeth Haanes.

Remarkable market opportunities exist for innovative developers of infectious disease-related technologies, but such developers need to be aware of the intricacies of patenting technologies in this field, say Helene Carlson and Elizabeth Haanes.

The global rise of resistant infectious agents and the threat of pandemics and bio-warfare create an enormous need in fields such as infectious disease (ID) therapeutics, vaccines and personalised medicine. In addition, global initiatives are providing incentives for commercial entities to develop new diagnostics and improved versions of existing therapeutics and vaccines. The current climate requires ID innovators to take a strategic view of the intellectual property issues surrounding proposed products as well as products in development. A proactive intellectual property strategy over the full life cycle will maximise revenue (mining for gold) and reduce risks such as litigation (avoiding land mines).

Avoiding land mines


Infections disease-related technology, strategic patent considerations

WIPR