Evergreen Drug Patent Database - Center for Innovation
Evergreening is a strategy used by pharmaceutical companies to extend the life of their drug patents and monopoly periods by obtaining additional protections, often based on minor modifications.
reports patent extensions by pharmaceutical companies from 2005 to 2018 on brand-name drugs, listed in the Federal Drug Administration鈥檚 Orange Book,听that may have been taken to prolong patents for trivial reasons. The Evergreen Drug Patent Search is based on peer-reviewed research by Professor Robin Feldman听and provided to the public through the听Center for Innovation听at the UC Law SF.
The Center for Innovation hopes that policymakers and other stakeholders use this information to identify potential problems with drug patent evergreening and develop new solutions so that everyone can access the life-saving medications that they need. (See听听and听)
What鈥檚 Wrong with Evergreening?
Once pharmaceutical companies start down the road of extending their patent protections, they show a tendency to return to the well, with the majority adding more than one extension, and half becoming serial offenders. The problem is growing.
Drug patent evergreening behavior may limit low-cost generic drug competition and keep drug prices high in two primary ways:
- If a generic drug seeks market entry through the expedited process, the generic drug must establish that the brand drug鈥檚 patents are expired, invalid, unenforceable, or not infringed upon. The sheer volume of a brand drug鈥檚 patents or exclusivities (鈥渘umber of protections鈥) increases the obstacles a generic must overcome to gain market entry.
- Additional patents or exclusivities can also extend the amount of time a drug is protected (鈥渢otal amount of extra protection鈥).