Methodology of Patent Search

Patent data

In this report, the patent landscape of vaccine adjuvants is presented.  In particular, we focus on patents and patent applications with claims directed to adjuvants.  For a number of reasons, patent landscapes are by their nature imperfect pictures.  The major source of the difficulty is the data itself.  While it isn't possible to search patent documents in every country that has a patent system, coverage can be fairly extensive in some databases.  For the main database used, a table showing patent coverage can be viewed here.  As noted in the table, most of the country data can only be searched in a limited number of fields.  Except for a few noted countries (e.g., United States, European Patent Office) for which the entire document is searchable, the rest are searchable only in the titles, abstracts, and bibliometric fields (e.g., inventors).  In addition, the searches are conducted in English and depend on the availability of accurate translation for documents published in a language other then English. 

Other limitations on the data include incomplete historical data.  Most of the data depend upon patent offices to provide information.  While the largest patent offices, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office (EPO) and Japanese Patent Office, are diligent in electronically publishing patent data and reporting bibliographic and legal status data to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) and EPO, the primary compilers and distributers of patent data, patent offices in other countries range in their diligence.  The table of coverage indicates some considerable gaps of data, especially for developing countries.  For example, patent document data for Indonesia only cover 1992-1997 and for India 1975-2004. 

Search strategy

For this landscape, the primary search strategy entailed keywords.  Because vaccine terminology is well established, keyword searching was deemed to be the most appropriate approach.  The database was initially searched using the keywords "adjuvant" in the title or abstract and "vaccine" in title, abstract, or full-text.   This search was performed on 14 May 2008 and yielded 1536 patent families.  These patent families were reviewed by reading title and abstract and, in some cases, claims for patent documents directed to adjuvants. 

An additional keyword search using "immunoenhancement or immunostimulant" in title or abstract resulted in an addition 463 patent families.  Most of these however, were not directed to vaccine adjuvants but rather to therapies for cancer, for viral infections or for other diseases.  Those relevant to vaccine adjuvants were added to the previous subset of patent documents.

A total of 653 patent families were obtained of which about 50 were expired.   For the purposes of this initial landscape all 653 are considered.

Image from PCT Newsletter, June 2008

The information contained in this page was believed to be correct at the time it was collated. New patents and patent applications, altered status of patents, and case law may have resulted in changes in the landscape. CAMBIA makes no warranty that it is correct or up to date at this time and accepts no liability for any use that might be made of it. Corrections or updates to the information are welcome. Please send an email to info@bios.net.

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