Are patents important indicators of innovation for Chagas disease treatment?

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Chagas disease is a neglected, endemic disease in 21 countries, spreading to non-endemic countries too. Like other neglected diseases affecting primarily low- and middle-income countries, low investment and the absence of new chemical entities from the industry occurred. Increased knowledge about the parasite, drug targets, and vector control has been observed, but this was not translated into new drugs. The partnerships of pharmaceutical companies with academies and consolidated networks to increment the new drugs and treatment research in Chagas disease are shown. The current review analyzes in detail the patents dealing with compounds candidates for new drugs and treatment. The patent search was performed using Orbit Intelligence® software in the 2001–2021 period.

Areas covered

The author focused specifically on patents for the treatment, the new candidates disclosed in the patents, and the barriers to innovation.

Expert opinion

Patents in Chagas disease have been increasing in the last years, although they do not bring new compounds to an effective treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Chagas disease
• patent
• Trypanosoma cruzi
• innovation
• treatment

Article highlights

• Chagas disease (CD) is spreading to non-endemic countries

• Low public and private investment make it difficult to discover new drugs

• Low index of innovation for CD treatment

• Low number of patents in CD when compared the other diseases

• Lack of accurate diagnosis impairs treatment and development of drugs

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interests

CT Supuran is the Editor-in-Chief of the Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents. CT Supuran was not involved in the assessment, peer review, or decision-making process of this paper. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contribution statement

AP Caroli, writing and patent search; FRP Mansoldo, conceptualization, original draft preparation, chemical structures; VS. Cardoso patent search and organization; CLS Lage, patent analysis; FL Carmo, interpretation and patents search, CT Supuran, writing, and revision; AB Vermelho Conceptualization, writing, and editing.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES), Grant code 001; the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, Ed. 15/2015-2022); the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (MCTI-CNPq, Universal 14/2016-2022).