title: Analysis of patents on anti-allergic therapies issued in China from 1988 to 2008.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased dramatically in recent decades. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of effective anti-allergic services worldwide. However, little is known what anti-allergic products have been patented in China and what the potential drug candidates for patents are in China.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the patents of anti-allergic products for the last 20 years and help pharmaceutical companies and individuals to understand the potential candidates for anti-allergic patents in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were obtained from the People's Republic of China Country Intellectual Property Rights Bureau website and United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 789 anti-allergic patents have been granted in China during the past 20 years, which all focused on synthetic compounds, traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), combinations of synthetic compounds and TCM, biological products and medical apparatus. It appears that more and more effective therapeutic components of TCM rather than whole herbs have been patented in recent years and alteration of natural molecules to produce more therapeutically effective molecules has emerged as a novel trend for the modernization of TCM. The patents on synthetic anti-allergic compounds in China mainly focus on well-known targets, such as histamine receptor and leukotrienes, which consist of 93% of patents for validated targets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The number of anti-allergic patents applied in China is far lower than that in the US. Therefore, there are great opportunities for obtaining anti-allergic patents, particularly patents on active ingredients from TCM in China.
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Clinical Research Center, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaoning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jifu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shaoheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002681:China; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015289:Leukotrienes / Q000378:metabolism; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods; D010330:Patents as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011968:Receptors, Histamine / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents; D015289:Leukotrienes; D011968:Receptors, Histamine