Spinal Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Witnesses Static Increase in Patent Filings Since 2015: Sagacious IP

Spinal Muscular Atrophy Treatment Market Witnesses Static Increase in Patent Filings Since 2015: Sagacious IP

Gurugram, August 10, 2021: Sagacious IP, a global IP research solution and analytics firm recently conducted a study to understand the key trends and current scenario of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) treatment market.

Given how critical SMA is, a significant amount of research is being conducted to identify new and improved treatment options. As per research, the global SMA treatment market is projected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 28%.

Since research and patent filings usually go hand in hand, it makes sense to analyze the filings related to the disease during the past five years. As per our research, there has been a static increase in the global patent filings related to SMA since 2015. The research data also suggests that the overall filings in 2015 were 41 while in 2019 they jumped to 52.

When it comes to priority countries, the research related to SMA is dominant in six major geographies. The high number of patent filings in these territories is reflective of this fact. Notably, the U.S. leads this race with a total of 300+ patents followed by the European Union, U.K., Australia, China, and South Korea with 56, 26, 20, 20, and 20 patents, respectively.

Further, in terms of Countries of Deposition, the leading jurisdictions include the U.S., the European Countries, Canada, Japan, Australia, China, South Korea, Brazil, and India. Among these, the U.S. dominates with a whopping 250+ filings while India has approx. 100 patents filed in last five years related to SMA.

The major assignees who filed patents in SMA include companies such as Abbvie, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Biogen, ProQR Therapeutics NV, Ionis Pharma, Translate Bio, Genzyme, Voyager Therapeutics, Regeneron Pharma, and Novartis. Among these, AbbVie leads the filings race with approximately 50 patents while Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Voyager Therapeutics have filed less than 10 patents each. When it comes to Academia, Harvard University, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Columbia University, and Seoul National University Hospital dominate the patent filings. INSERM, CNRS, and Harvard University lead the patent filings with approximately 20, 10, and 10 patents, respectively. While Columbia University, the University of Massachusetts, and Sorbonne University hold 6 patents each. Besides the major pharmaceutical and academic players, some of the emerging players include Exicure, Stealth Biotherapeutics, Encoded Therapeutics, Codiak Biosciences, Generation Bio, CyteGen, and Curamys. The reason that these firms are considered upcoming players is that they have recently filed patents that have published PCT applications related to SMA.

Further, when it comes to India, the top foreign companies filing SMA treatment and diagnosis related patents in the country include Abbvie, Biomarin Pharmaceuticals, Hoffman La Roche, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Sarepta Therapeutics, and Biogen. While the leading foreign universities or research institutes/wings filing SMA patents in India include Technion R&D, University of Bern, INSERM, University of Pennysylvania, Yale University, the National University of Singapore (NUS), John Hopkins, and others. Some of the leading Indian companies filing patents for SMA are Aurigene Discovery and Sphaera Pharma. Further, in terms of foreign priority countries, i.e., countries from where patents are filed in India, the U.S., European countries, Japan, UK, and Italy lead the filing race.

When we analyze the filing trend for Indian patents in the last five years, we notice that the patent filings in India have increased. While 15 SMA-related patents were filed in 2016, patents approximately more than double this number were filed in 2020. Interestingly, majority of the SMA patents have “ALIVE” legal status in India.

In terms of research, a significant number of studies are taking place for SMA. Active clinical trials are going on for drugs by Roche in countries including the U.S., Belgium, Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, Spain, and others. The company already has results for Phase II and Phase III studies. Further, majority of the clinical trials that have been completed, were conducted by companies including Novartis, Biogen, Roche, Catalyst Pharma, and Astellas Pharma. Also, universities and research groups such as the University of Utah, Ohio State University, University of Iowa, Stanford University, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have completed clinical trials of their drugs and biologicals. Notably, nearly 38% interventions have completed Phase I study, close to 50% have completed Phase II study, and approximately 19% have completed the Phase III or Phase IV studies.

If we consider the options for cure, then the inventions for SMA treatment are majorly related to gene therapy and treatments involving antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). For instance, Hoffmann-La Roche has close to 10 patents focusing on gene therapy and antisense oligonucleotide-related treatment(s) while INSERM has 10 patents related to gene therapy itself. Furthermore, Biogen focuses on antisense oligonucleotide treatment related to SMA, Genzyme’s majority patents relate to gene therapy, and Voyager Therapeutics also files patents related to gene therapy for SMA treatment.

However, gene therapy and antisense oligonucleotides are not the only treatment options available today. Some of the other SMA treatment options include treatment through antibodies such as anti-myostatin, gator2 antibody, and small molecules such as benzoquinone derivatives, oxazines, and ERK inhibitors. Apart from the variety of treatment options, numerous diagnostic methods are also available. These include splicing, cell-based assays, live cell imaging, genotyping, and transcription-mediated amplification.

While the SMA treatment market is driven by factors such as a substantial increase in newly launched products for SMA treatment, growing incidence of SMA due to increasing population, and rising awareness about the disease, numerous challenges exist parallelly. One of the major limiting factors among them is the exorbitant price of approved drugs. Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges, however, there is continuous innovation in this sector and more treatment options are anticipated to appear in the coming years.

Methodology

*The article was prepared using the search and analysis done by Sagacious Team using Questel Orbit Database. Patent filing trends were considered for the time 2015-2020 for the patents focusing on Spinal Muscular Atrophy and its related broader class. The team performed a mix of automated and manual analysis to shortlist the relevant set of patents focusing on Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Based on these shortlisted patents, the patent filing trend, assignee distribution and other related information was gathered and provided. Supporting information is referred from official websites, review articles and news articles.

About Sagacious IP:

Sagacious IP is a global intellectual property research solution and analytics company helping world’s largest companies, law firms, and other institutions – working with them to monetize IP, defend IP litigations, provide information so they lead innovation in their industry.