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Evidence of 'evergreening' in secondary patenting of blockbuster drugs
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evidence of 'evergreening' in secondary patenting of blockbuster drugs

A.F. Christie, C. Dent and D.M. Studdert
Melbourne University Law Review, Vol.44(2), pp.537-564
2021
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Abstract

Secondary patents associated with blockbuster drugs are granted for follow-on innovations relating to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (‘API’) of the drug. Our analysis of all sec-ondary patents for 13 top-selling drugs in Australia shows that, while the majority of fol-low-on innovations are made by entities other than the originator of the drug, the innova-tions with the highest private value are undertaken by the drug’s originator and concern a delivery mechanism or an alternative formulation for the API. Since that is the type of follow-on innovation most commonly undertaken by drug originators, and considered most likely to result in a de facto extension of marketplace monopoly over the drug, we see in these findings evidence that the originators of blockbuster drugs engage in secondary patenting that has an ‘evergreening’ effect.

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