PHARMACEUTICAL IP

AI drug discovery

We believe that the pharmaceutical industry is where AI has the most to offer humanity. The fast-moving field of AI-assisted drug design also highlights the need for an adaptable IP strategy tailored to the unique needs of these emerging technologies. Our in-depth knowledge of how the pharmaceutical industry operates enables us to provide highly strategic advice to AI drug development companies on positioning their IP portfolios.

Our attorneys have experience advising on and implementing IP strategy for AI-assisted drug discovery platforms. We know that the strategy must be tailored to the business needs and consider the full scope of possible IP protection, including trade secrets, platform patents, and drug substance patents.

Sector insights...

Are AI-discovered drug patents blocking innovation? A response to the Science article

Are AI-discovered drug patents truly blocking innovation, or does a new Science article on the topic misunderstand on how pharma IP strategy?

IP implications of the FDA guidance for use of AI in drug development

Learn how the FDA’s new draft guidance on the use of AI in drug development may impact the industry.

An LLM is not (yet) a person skilled in the art (T 1193/23)

The EPO clarifies that an LLM interpretation of a technical term in a patent is not yet evidence of how a skilled person would interpret the term.

OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) patents

For tech innovators seeking to understand evolving intellectual property strategies, OpenAI’s recent pivot offers essential guidance: far from relying solely on trade secrets, the AI leader is now aggressively pursuing and accelerating patent grants, signaling a significant shift.

AlphaFold: From Nobel Prize to drug-discovery gold mine?

AlphaFold, a machine learning model for predicting protein structure, is arguably one of the greatest achievements of AI so far. Whilst large language models such as ChatGPT can write poems and make pretty pictures, AlphaFold has the potential to dramatically impact the life-and-death world of drug discovery. AlphaFold represents truly ground-breaking science for which its…

IP strategy for AI-assisted drug discovery

AI has been hailed as a potentially revolutionary tool for accelerating and enhancing the difficult and expensive process of drug discovery. Medicine perhaps represents the field in which AI has the most to offer humanity. However, the nascent field of AI-assisted drug design also highlights the need for IP strategy to be as forward-looking and…

G 2/21 applied to software inventions (T 0687/22)

The EPO Board of Appeal decision in T 0687/22 confirms beyond doubt the relevance of G 2/21 to software inventions. The decision in T 0687/22 links the case law from G 1/19 and G 2/21 to highlight the importance of establishing a credible technical effect of software invention. The Patentee in the case made several attempts to formulate an objective technical problem solved by the invention based…

Too broad, too early? AI platform for cell analysis found to lack technical character and sufficiency (T 0660/22, Cell analysis/NIKON)

This decision highlights some of the challenges associated with trying to broadly protect software-based platform technology for biological research.

Insilico Medicine: Lessons in IP strategy from a front-runner in AI-drug discovery

The intersection of AI and pharmaceutical development presents unprecedented opportunities but also raises complex legal questions. Recent developments and successes in AI-drug discovery highlight some of the key IP issues in AI-drug development. Companies are being forced to tackle these issues head-on as the IP law advances almost as quickly as the science. In a previous…

New USPTO Guidance on the use of AI in precision medicine

The USPTO recently issued Guidance on the patentability of AI. In the US, claims directed solely to a “judicial exception”, in the form of an abstract idea, natural phenomena, or law of nature, are not eligible for patent protection (35 U.S.C. 101). However, the case law on subject matter eligibility is infamously difficult to apply. The new Guidance seeks to provide some clarity…
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