Abstract
BackgroundPatents are important intellectual property protecting technological innovations that inspire efficient research and development in biomedicine. The number of awarded patents serves as an important indicator of economic growth and technological innovation. Researchers have mined patents to characterize the focuses and trends of technological innovations in many fields.ObjectiveTo expand patent mining to biomedicine and facilitate future resource allocation in biomedical research for the United States, we analyzed US patent documents to determine the focuses and trends of protected technological innovations across the entire disease landscape.MethodsWe analyzed more than 5 million US patent documents between 1995 and 2017, using summary statistics and dynamic topic modeling. More specifically, we investigated the disease coverage and latent topics in patent documents over time. We also incorporated the patent data into the calculation of our recently developed Research Opportunity Index (ROI) and Public Health Index (PHI), to recalibrate the resource allocation in biomedical research.ResultsOur analysis showed that protected technological innovations have been primarily focused on socioeconomically critical diseases such as “other cancers” (malignant neoplasm of head, face, neck, abdomen, pelvis, or limb; disseminated malignant neoplasm; Merkel cell carcinoma; and malignant neoplasm, malignant carcinoid tumors, neuroendocrine tumor, and carcinoma in situ of an unspecified site), diabetes mellitus, and obesity. The United States has significantly improved resource allocation to biomedical research and development over the past 17 years, as illustrated by the decreasing PHI. Diseases with positive ROI, such as ankle and foot fracture, indicate potential research opportunities for the future. Development of novel chemical or biological drugs and electrical devices for diagnosis and disease management is the dominating topic in patented inventions.ConclusionsThis multifaceted analysis of patent documents provides a deep understanding of the focuses and trends of technological innovations in disease management in patents. Our findings offer insights into future research and innovation opportunities and provide actionable information to facilitate policy makers, payers, and investors to make better evidence-based decisions regarding resource allocation in biomedicine.
Highlights
Patents are an important form of intellectual property that grants inventors monopolies for a limited period of time and provides inventors with a financial incentive for commercialization
Our analysis showed that protected technological innovations have been primarily focused on socioeconomically critical diseases such as “other cancers”, diabetes mellitus, and obesity
This multifaceted analysis of patent documents provides a deep understanding of the focuses and trends of technological innovations in disease management in patents
Summary
Patents are an important form of intellectual property that grants inventors monopolies for a limited period of time and provides inventors with a financial incentive for commercialization Without such financial incentive, private investors in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries may be reluctant to invest in new technologies, which would slow down the development of new diagnoses and treatments [1]. Patent documents describe the inventor, owner, abstract, claims, and legal status of patented inventions and are publicly available. They have been mined to identify focuses and trends of technological innovations in many areas such as the fisheries sector [3], solar cell industry [4], and drug discovery [5]. Researchers have mined patents to characterize the focuses and trends of technological innovations in many fields
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