The Challenges of Patenting in Pharma

Oct. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Interview by Helen Winsor, Pharma IQ
Eric Ruhlmann, European Patent Attorney Director, Senior Patent Counsel, Legal Department,
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, joins Pharma IQ, to discuss the latest challenges for patenting pharmaceutical inventions and trends in global patent law

Pharma IQ: What do you find the most challenging aspects of patenting pharmaceutical inventions and how do you think this differs from other patenting?
E Ruhlmann: Before starting to answer your questions, I would like to state that the views that I will express here are personal and may not necessarily be those of Actelion, my employer. Besides, the answers provided in this interview are not meant to provide any legal advice.
Concerning your question, one of the most challenging aspects of patenting pharmaceutical inventions lies, in my view, in the time between the moment when the invention is made and the moment when the invention is used. For new medicines, 10 to 12 years will elapse until the freshly discovered molecule can be marketed. As a result, when you draft your patent application, you do often not yet know which aspect of your invention will be most important. Therefore, you have to phrase your text very carefully so that it may properly protect any potentially important aspect. Besides, the patent that you have drafted may be challenged in a lawsuit in about 20 years only, and the requirements may have changed by that time.

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