The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by the evolution of new treatment paradigms, the gravity of unmet medical needs, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as pharmacogenomics, digital therapeutics, and artificial intelligence. In the last three years alone, there have been over 787,000 patents filed and granted in the pharmaceutical industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in pharmaceuticals: anti-malarial peptides. Buy the report here.

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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilizing and reaching maturity.

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

80+ innovations will shape the pharmaceutical industry

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry using innovation intensity models built on over 668,000 patents, there are 80+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, engineered multispecific antibodies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and mutant DNA polymerases are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Phenotypic drug screening, antibody-drug conjugates, and polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are drug delivery nanoparticles and antibody encoding polynucleotide libraries, which are now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry

Anti-malarial peptides is a key innovation area in pharmaceutical industry 

Anti-malarial peptides exhibit activity on malaria parasites, Plasmodium spp., either in blood or mosquito stages, or both. The range of natural and synthetic molecules that make up these peptides is broad, with differences in size, charge, hydrophobicity, and secondary structural characteristics. The activity of anti-malarial peptides is influenced by several environmental variables, including pH, metal ions, and proteases. 

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 90+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of anti-malarial peptides. 

Key players in anti-malarial peptides– a disruptive innovation in the pharmaceutical industry  

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.  

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’. 

Patent volumes related to anti-malarial peptides

GSK is the leading patent filer in anti-malarial peptides. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and commercialising pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. It offers drugs for the treatment of diseases such as HIV, respiratory, cancer, immuno-inflammation, anti-viral, central nervous system (CNS), metabolic, cardiovascular and urogenital, anti-bacterial, dermatological, and certain rare diseases.

GSK and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) together have developed a preclinical portfolio of antimalarial properties. Through its extensive global R&D and supply network, GSK offers clinical, regulatory, and manufacturing knowledge and resources when compounds enter the clinical development stage. In 2021, the WHO recommended broader use of GSK’s Mosquirix to reduce illness and deaths from malaria in children living in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by the WHO.

In terms of application diversity, Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai holds the top position, followed by Theravectys and Suzhou SJ Biomaterials. By means of geographic reach, Zydus Lifesciences is the top company, followed by Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Saiba.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Pharmaceutical.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article. GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.

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