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Protecting intellectual property

We invest significant resources into researching and developing new medicines and vaccines. This is an expensive and lengthy process in which there is no guarantee of success. It usually takes to 10-15 years and costs an average of $800 million (US) to bring a new product to market. For every 10,000 compounds that are discovered and tested, on average only three will eventually come to market as a new medicine.

The protection of intellectual property enables the inventor to make a return on this investment and to fund continued research into much needed medicines for life threatening diseases such as HIV and cancer.

We look to governments and intergovernmental agreements to provide a legal framework for this protection through patents, copyright, trademarks and by respecting data exclusivity.

Patents
A patent gives the inventor of a new product exclusive rights to manufacture, use, sell or import that product or the process used to make that product. These rights are granted for a set period of time, generally 20 years. The term of the patent runs during the lengthy research & development period, and often only five-eight years of the patent remains once a product is marketed. Some countries have extended the patent term to compensate for the long R&D process.

Patents are granted on the condition that the inventor publishes a full description of the invention, which would allow someone else to manufacture the product. This helps to build scientific understanding and encourage further research and innovation.

Without the protection of patents, competitors could profit from our inventions without having to bear the cost of research. This would reduce the incentive to innovate and mean less research into new medicines.

Trademarks
A trademark is a brand name, word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of these, that identifies and distinguishes a product or company. The owner of a trademark can prevent its use by a third party.

Trademarks enable our customers to tell our products from those of our competitors and provide reassurance of quality and the origin of the product. They are therefore a vital part of our marketing.

Data exclusivity
Before we can sell a new product we must prove that it is effective and safe to use. All our products are rigorously tested through clinical trials and other medical research. The results of this research are submitted to governments on a confidential basis.

‘Data exclusivity’ means that governments cannot use or disclose these data for a fixed period of time. This ensures that other companies cannot benefit from our research for free - for example to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of generic copies of our products.

In the interest of facilitating timely market access and the need to avoid repetitive animal testing and human clinical trials, competitors may refer to our data after expiration of the period of exclusivity.

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