The landscape of drug discovery in atherosclerosis and dyslipidaemia: a survey from patenting activity

Abstract

Background/objective: Patenting activity now and over the past decade in the fields of atherosclerosis and dyslipidaemia was used to assess targets and mechanisms of active interest and to identify trends in current scientific and clinical research. Patents can be considered an index of the perception in a field of the potential value and feasibility of an approach. Methods: Two hundred patents published over 11 months claiming an indication of atherosclerosis or dyslipidaemia were analysed in detail. Two major groups were considered, lipid/metabolic and vascular/inflammation, reflecting scientific and clinical activity in the field. Mechanistic subgroups within these were identified. The analysis was amplified by reviewing the trends for the two groups as a whole over the past 10 years, and also for specific targets within groups. Results/conclusions: Patenting activity in both groups increased over the first half of the past decade and has remained at peak level for lipid/metabolic targets. However, activity for vascular/inflammation targets has significantly decreased. Overall, mechanisms that raise plasma high density lipoprotein predominated. The trends are assessed for their relationship to current scientific and clinical work.