A patent perspective on chikungunya.

Chikungunya is a viral disease caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV) belonging to the Alphavirus genus and transmitted to humans by mosquitoes of Aedes spp. Nearly 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas have documented chikungunya cases. Most recent severe outbreaks have occurred in Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius and India. There is no specific drug treatment for the disease, neither is there a standardized vaccine available for prevention of the disease. The present review gives a global perspective on patents filed pertaining to chikungunya. The United States has been the top patent filing jurisdiction followed by China, Europe, and India. The patents have been classified into categories of therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines. Maximum patent documents fall under the therapeutics category, in which patent applications are predominantly related to chemically derived drugs. They include nucleic acid analogues, various other host and virus enzyme/protein inhibitors. Patents on biological or plant derived drugs are being filed relatively recently. In the category of diagnostics, immunoassay based tests seemed to be of choice until the year 2005, whereas, patent filings for molecular diagnostics have now surpassed those with immunoassay techniques. In the vaccines category, vaccines based on viral vectors appear to be emerging as the preferred vaccine platform with the majority of patents filed in the years 2014-2017. Corporate sector has the most patent filings to its credit, followed closely by academic institutions. Pasteur Institut along with Chinese Agency for Science, Technology and Research is the top patent filing entity in chikungunya related technology space. Presently, nine vaccine products, three antiviral drugs and one mRNA based gene therapy are under development. Three vaccine products have been given fast track designation by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite review and facilitate the development of a vaccine to prevent a serious or life-threatening condition and fill an unmet medical need. Similarly, one vaccine has been given PRIME (Priority Medicines) status by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

A patent landscape on application of microorganisms in construction industry.

Construction biotechnology includes research and development of construction materials and processes that make use of various microbes. The present technology landscape gives a perspective on how microbes have been used in construction industry as cement and concrete additives by analyzing patents filed in this technology arena. All patents related to the technology of interest published globally to date have been reviewed. The earliest patent filing in this technology domain was recorded in the year 1958 and the patenting activity reached its peak around mid to late 1990s. The early technology was mainly focused on microbial polysaccharides and other metabolic products as additives. Year 2002 onwards, biomineralization has taken precedence over the other technologies with consistent patent filings indicating a shift in innovation focus. Japan has been the global leader with highest number of patents filed on application of microbes in construction industry. Southeast University, China has topped the patent assignee list with maximum number of filings followed by Kajima Corp. and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Most patent applications have claimed microbe based bio-products. Construction-related microbial technologies are mainly based on activity of different microorganisms such as urease-producing, acidogenic, halophilic, alkaliphilic, nitrate and iron-reducing bacteria. Sporosarcina pasteurii has been the most widely used microbe for biomineralization.