A patent landscaping of medicinal plants extracts

The intellectual property (IP) rights connected with the use of medicinal plants have been debated worldwide (1), considered as bio-piracy by one group, whereas others argue that it sustains innovation & public health. While the debate is still going on, no one's have really assessed in the scientific literature or elsewhere, the output of the research in phytomedicine & the extend of patent protection of medicinal plant extracts, & get an understanding of the market organization with the relationship between firms & academic research across North-South divide (2). In order to contribute to the debate, we undertook a patent landscaping. Statistic, geographical & network analysis have been conducted in the worldwide collection of INPADOC family patents using Questel patent research plateform with the help of the International Patent Classification. Results show that research on medicinal plants have undergone a tremendous increase followed by an accelerated worldwide patent protection strategy. 72,5% of patents have been file since 2000 with more than 1000 new applications every year today. Indeed the patenting trends in phytomedicine is following the ones for biotech & pharmaceutical compounds. If OECD countries account for 70% of the total patents, BRICS are catching up with 27% of new patent filing today while OECD new patent filing decrease by 1/3. If you look at the scientific production, China, India & Brazil are very effective in regard of their number of academic researchers or % of GDP dedicated to R&D. But, only China seems to have an intellectual property strategy. Beside these macroeconomics indicators, detailed results regarding medicinal plants extract protected by patents will be presented regarding the main therapeutic claims, the new medical application trends, the main natural resources used, the new plants species trends, the different biodiversity interest between OECD and BRICS country. Finally the ranking of the main applicants, their citizenship, their public/private status and the collaborative network between firms and academic institutions will be detailed. Therefore, we will discuss the pre-emption of biodiversity by IPR rights, and the danger of economic monopoly regarding traditional knowledge. In conclusion, this patent mapping will improve the overall transparency of phytomedicine IP rights to researchers, policy-markers and the civil society. Furthermore, theses results will provide technology transfer strategic information for the academic research and foster successful open innovation partnership model. 1 - Intellectual Property and traditionnale knowledge, Publication No. 920(E), WIPO. 2 - F. dos Santos e Souza Frickmann1 (2011), Research & Patent of Phytotherapeutic & Phytocosmetic Products in the Brazilian Amazon , J. Technol. Manag Innov., 6, 136-150.