EXPERT VIEW: Patent attorney Gareth Williams speaks about the potential issues facing the pharmaceutical industry

As patent expiration becomes an increasing hurdle for pharma companies worldwide, The Pharma Letter spoke to patent attorney Gareth Williams, a partner at Marks & Clerk solicitors in Cambridge, UK, about why patents in other sectors outnumber those in pharma and biotech, why you can’t patent DNA in the USA and how the future of patents in Europe will be interesting.

The Pharma Letter: Are patent applications in the pharma and biotech sectors increasing or decreasing?

Gareth Williams: The latest filing figures from the European Patent Office (EPO) show a slight drop in pharma and biotech European patent filings in 2012 when compared with 2011 figures – down 0.2% and 4.3% respectively – continuing a downward trend from 2010. However, international applications (according to statistics produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO) show a very slight increase in these fields over the same period. So it’s probably fair on balance to say that filings are generally flat, rather than any clear upward or downward trend.