Surge in filings for UK pharma and biotech patents many be a sign of growing investor confidence, say IP experts

A surge in pharma and biotech patents in the UK, reported by the European Patent Office (EPO), may be a sign of growing investor confidence within these sectors, according to IP firm Marks & Clerk.

The report from the EPO was published earlier this week and demonstrates a significant increase in patents filed by UK-based companies in 2017 when compared with 2016 across pharma (up 15.7%) and biotech (up 25.3%).

A senior associate and chartered (UK) and European patent attorney at Marks & Clerk, Thomas Zvesper, noted that both sectors were clearly ‘growth industries’ at a domestic and global level.

“There is more awareness of the need to file for patent protection and the latest figures from the EPO also suggest there is more research going on, and more money flowing into that research,” he added. “When it comes to biotech, as a proportion of the overall costs patent protection is not a huge part of it. It’s not insignificant, but biotech research is expensive, so this growth in patent filings suggests that there’s more research going on, meaning that the funding streams and investment are growing at a much higher rate than they were previously.

“The global crash from 2007–2009 put a huge damper on investment in all areas, so it may be we are now seeing signs that we have come out of that to some extent and there is more confidence in investing.

“It will be in interesting to see if this is a blip or if this is the new benchmark, but either way it certainly suggests the innovation is out there.”

This increase in patent filings within pharma and biotech was seen elsewhere in the world too with the majority of countries included in the EPO report experiencing rises in 2017 versus 2016.