UK leads Europe in antimicrobial resistance research says Landon IP

The UK is in pole position when it comes to patent filings for antimicrobial point-of-care diagnostics in Europe, according to Landon IP, patent analytics and consulting arm of intellectual property management specialist CPA Global and intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk.

A comprehensive patent landscape study undertaken by Landon IP for the Longitude Prize shows that the UK is second only to the US in the number of first fillings for patent applications for point-of-care diagnostics tests since 2009.

Longitude Prize is a £10 million prize fund aiming to revolutionise global healthcare and conserve antibiotics for future generations. It is run by innovation charity Nesta with the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, as funding partner.

The findings are included in a report, Microbial infection: Point-of-care diagnostics, which examines patent filing behaviour relating to antimicrobial point-of-care diagnostics tests over the past five years. The aim of the research was to provide a global view of patents being filed in this area and to provide a useful tool for the judging panel to use as part of their assessment of entries.

With the rise of antimicrobial resistance identified as one of the greatest modern-day risks, Longitude Prize seeks to find a fast, accurate, easy-to-use and cost-effective test for microbial infections that will allow health professionals worldwide to administer the right antibiotics at the right time. The UK’s dedication to fighting antimicrobial resistance was previously substantiated in the ‘Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy’ (2013-2018) produced by the Department of Health and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

After the US (where 258 out of 332 patent families were first filed) and the UK (26 out of 332), Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Korea are the next most common jurisdictions for patent first filings (six each).

Dr. Paul Chapman, partner and patent attorney at Marks & Clerk, and Longitude Prize 2014 advisory panel member, commented: “New point-of-care diagnostics tests are key to the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Encouragingly, our research shows that there are a number of UK companies innovating in this area. Nonetheless, although leading within Europe, levels of UK innovation in antimicrobial point-of-care diagnostics still lag behind the US by quite some margin. More will need to be done to address the issue and to stimulate further innovation in this vital area.”