PDF, Patent Landscape Report on Atazanavir - WIPO

THE DEVELOPER’S OWN TIMELINEThe Atazanavir-related inventions belongingto Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb have atime line of development that began in 1995with the founder composition patent, and waspunctuated in 2003 by the approval of thedrug for an HIV/AIDS indication.Figure 20 ATZ-related inventions of Novartis andBristol-Myers Squibb by Priority YearThe summary in Figure 20 shows the divisionof labor between Novartis and Bristol-MyersSquibb. A point to remember is that thecategories are overlapping. The founderpatent was developed by Novartis (thenCiba-Geigy), and while Novartis did aconsiderable amount of chemical work on thecompound and its synthesis, the lion’s shareof the synthesis work was done at BMS inpreparation for scale up, formulation fortreatment, and so on.In the case of combinations (Figure 21), Novartis mentioned them more generically in itsinventions, while the BMS patents were more specific about which types of drugs would bevaluable in combination. In terms of diversification to other clinical indications, Novartisappears to be taking the lead, but both companies are working on cancer, anti-inflammatoryand neurologic indications, which may or may not be an indicator of future direction.Figure 21. Atazanavir <strong>Patent</strong>ing by Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb27