Análise dos pedidos de patentes depositados no Brasil para comprimidos de liberação modificada. Prolongamento da proteção patentária

Pharmaceutical patents are an effective way to encourage innovation. Nevertheless, they create monopolies, since they give pharmaceutical companies the power to establish high prices during the protection period. Also, they delay the introduction of generic competitors into the market, which may limit access to medicines. Secondary patents on new pharmaceutical dosage forms are one kind of market exclusivity extension; we hypothesized that patents on modified release tablets are instances of such secondary patents. This work analyzed the profile of patent applications filed in Brazil for modified release tablets through a search of the European Patent Offi ce and INPI databases for the period from 01/01/95 to 31/12/07. It was observed that Brazilian participation in the patent applications in these databases was only 1% of the total, and that the modified release tablet patents focused on addressing prevalent pathologies in developed countries. Additionally, it was verified that, in many situations, this type of incremental modification was not a real improvement and served only as a strategy to extend the original patent protection.