Patenting of pharmaceuticals by academic institutions

Patenting of pharmaceuticals by academic applicants is reviewed from several different viewpoints. Strong growth during the 1990s is noted, with a bias towards the patenting of inventions concerned with biotechnological aspects of therapy and diagnosis. Very few non-US institutions rank in the top 50 applicants, and approximately one quarter of applications are filed only in the US. When international protection is sought, the PCT is used almost exclusively, but only about half of these applications proceed to grant.