Origiin IP Solutions LLP has said that 11 drugs of global pharma majors will be going off patent this year and this would augment generic drug manufacturing in the emerging markets (EMs).

Out of the 11 drugs, three drugs are from Bristol-Myers Squibb: Baraclude or Entecavir and Abilify or Aripiprazole, Sustiva or Efavirenz . Two drugs are from Teva Pharmaceuticals: Copaxone or Glatiramer acetate and Provigil or Modafinil. One drug each from six global pharma majors are Novartis’ Gleevec or Imatinib mesylate, Forest Laboratories' Namenda or Memantine HCI, Boehringer Ingelheim's Combivent or Albuterol and ipratropium inhalation. Pfizer’s Zyvox or linezolid. Janssen Therapeutics' Prezista or Darunavir. GlaxoSmithKline's Avodart or Dutasteride.

Expired patent data is specifically used by pharmaceutical industry as it opens door for generic drug manufacturing, said Deepa ES, Patent Analyst, Origiin IP Solutions LLP.

It is observed that patent expirations up to 2016 will reduce brand spending in worldwide developed markets by $127 billion, but will be counterbalanced by generic spending, resulting in a five-year global savings of close to $106 billion, she added.

Expired patents cannot be used by anyone without consent of the patent holder. Once the patent is expired it cannot be renewed or restored.

Quoting the Frost & Sullivan analysis, she said that in US, Europe particularly Germany, UK, France, Spain and Italy besides Asia covering India and China indicate that the patent expiry of several major drugs between 2010 and 2017 will increase the growth opportunities of the global generic pharma market.

 Further, the trend is shifting towards less competitive, yet commercially attractive segments such as difficult-to-produce generics, specialty generics and biosimilars. The market earned revenues from such difficult to manufacture drugs was valued at $123.85 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach $231 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.29% from 2011-18, she said.

“As we know well that patent is a valuable source of technical information that can be well utilised for improving existing products or processes, the expired patents are extremely important for research as the patentee does not have any legal rights over it”, said Deepa.

Therefore it is crucial to take expert opinion before using or commercialising expired patents to ensure legal status of the patent and avoid infringement of any third party rights. Further, it is critical to comprehend all details about expired patent. In this regard, a thorough due diligence is extremely important before using any expired patent, she said.