The difference in the patent protection process of the pharma sector and other industries
Patent protection or patent registration process includes making the concept legally yours. Once you register it on your name, no one else can use the idea without your permission. According to a patent attorney in India the patent protection of pharma companies is different from others in a lot number of ways.
The pharma industry is all about developing new medical treatments. When research is done, and the concept is there in the complete form, it takes at least 10-15 years to the medicine to come in the market. Moreover, not only it takes such a long time, but the cost is also very high. Development of single medical treatment can cost billion dollars which is not affordable for everyone.
After the development of product also, there are challenges in the protection of the intellectual property. From involving individual IP policies to management styles and strategies, the importance of patent registration becomes apparent to every IP owner. By registering a patent, the owners can prevent their Intellectual property from getting copied by people who produce the medicines at low cost and in bulk.
Challenges only in front of pharma IP and how to deal with them
While the manufacturing of a drug is quite affordable, the development of medical treatment is higher, and this is where the unique challenges in front of Pharma intellectual property start. Most of the pharma companies begin the registration process even before the clinical trials.
The registration of patent during the research time reduces the patent life. The effective license life thus remains just 11.5 years on an average. However, the patent owner can apply to extend the patent life, but the extension time can’t bring whole of the life lost.
The reduced life of the patent also reduces the marketing time for the new medicine because the ideas of new medical treatment need to be protected as quickly as possible.
Moreover, natural products have been prevented from patenting by patent and trademark office by stating laws of nature. Also, the protection confirmation time can even vary.
Changes with the emergence of biotechnology
The development of biotechnology is playing a significant role in transforming the healthcare industry. The collaboration of traditional bioscience processes and latest technologies has driven the development of treatments. Several available medical devices can examine the diseases in the human body, and more machines are yet to develop for the diagnosis of diseases. The innovation of technology is making the medical treatment easy and effective. The tools that can see the progression of the individual patient which is different in every case and this what makes the treatment effective. The wearable devices come in the form of a bracelet and many other styles to check deterioration and confirm procedure.
Effect of 3D printing on the pharmaceutical industry
We expect technology to improve processes and reduce costs. The 3D printing allows the printing of pills, tissues, and organs. The method makes it possible for companies to lower the price of testing of drugs without forgetting the laws of safety and ethics. The commercialization of medical development has become comfortable with 3D printing processes. The best example is in dental implant fields where thousands of braces are manufactured with the help of printed images. Companies are working on the construction of 3D tissues that could replace tissues damaged due to diseases. The reports on the technology tell us that billion dollars cost could be reduced in coming years by using this technology.
What can we see in future for pharmaceutical IP
The two biggest challenges which pharma companies are facing from years include dealing with copycats and reduced patent life. Both motivation and investment have been impacted by the above two problems and is further affecting the innovation.
Moreover, the latest technologies, as we can have seen in the article has made innovation possible. The emergence of supportive technologies has enhanced innovation, and that's why the diseases would be easily treated in the future. Cost is also going down, and that’s why companies are happily going for better research to develop better. The future of the pharma Intellectual property seems to be far better than now.
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