Browsing by Subject "Patents"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Among the coformers and cocrystals
(2023-12) Wilson, Ilham Zaky; Maniruzzaman, Mohammed; Cui, Zhengrong
Cocrystals have emerged as an exciting avenue for altering the behavior of drugs and creating new patents or intellectual properties in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the preparation of pharmaceutical cocrystals remains relatively uncommon, presenting a potential field for innovation. The advantage of cocrystals lies in their ability to preserve the molecular structures of the active pharmaceutical ingredients, thereby avoiding the need for complicated approval paperwork and clinical trials associated with new drug entities. In this study, our focus is on the development of cocrystals for Fleroxacin, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic belonging to the quinolone antibiotic class. Fleroxacin exhibits versatility in treating various bacterial infections. Our approach involves cocrystallizing Fleroxacin with a few small molecule APIs and nutrients, namely nicotinamide, salicylamide, and acetaminophen. This combination of Fleroxacin with different coformers allows us to explore the potential for enhancing its chemical properties and therapeutic efficacy. To achieve cocrystal formation, we employed a novel catalyst, pure glacfial acetic acid, in conjunction with a ball milling machine. This methodology is particularly notable as it represents a first-time application of pure glacial acetic acid for cocrystallization and the cocrystallization of Fleroxacin. Also, prior to the synthesis, we ensured the absence of any undesirable reactions between the reactants and glacial acetic acid, thereby ensuring the integrity of the cocrystals formed (eliminating the possibilities of solvate and salt formations). Sample analysis and identification were done with physical examinations (e.g., visual appearance) and high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis at Argonne National Laboratory in addition to standard laboratory X-ray diffraction at The University of Texas Department of Chemistry and Texas Material Institute. The findings of this study contribute to the expanding body of knowledge on cocrystallization techniques and their potential applications in pharmaceutical development. Moreover, the successful synthesis and characterization of these Fleroxacin cocrystals with salicylamide, nicotinamide, and acetaminophen open up possibilities for further investigations into their chemical properties and potential therapeutic benefits.
Patent-based analogy search tool for innovative concept generation
(2011-12) Murphy, Jeremy Thomas; Wood, Kristin L.; Beaman, Joseph; Campbell, Matthew; Crawford, Richard; Jensen, Dan
Design-by-Analogy is a powerful tool to augment the traditional methods of concept generation and offers avenues to develop innovative and novel design solutions. Few tools exist to assist designers in systematically seeking and identifying analogies from within design repositories such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent database. A new tool for extracting functional analogies from patents has been developed to perform this task utilizing a Vector Space Model algorithm to quantitatively evaluate the functional similarity between design problems and patent descriptions of products. Initially, a Boolean Search approach was evaluated and several limitations were identified such as a lack of quantitative metrics for determining search result relevancy ranking as well as inadequate query mapping methods. Next, a Vector Space Model search tool was developed which includes extensive expansion of the Functional Basis using human-based term classification and automated document indexing techniques. The resulting functional patent controlled vocabulary consists of approximately 2,100 unique functions extracted from 65,000 randomly selected patents. The patent search database was generated by indexing 275,000 patents selected from the over 4 million patents available in digital form. A graphical user interface was developed to facilitate query vector generation, and the accompanying search result viewing interface provides data clustering and relevancy ranking. Two case studies are conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the search engine. The first case study successfully replicated the functional similarity results of a classic Design-by-Analogy problem of the guitar pickup winder. The second case study is an original design problem consisting of an automated window washer, and the results illustrate the range of analogically distant solutions that can be extracted ranging from very near-field, literal solutions to the far-field cross domain solutions. Finally, the search tool’s efficacy with regard to increasing quantity and novelty of ideas produced during Concept Generation is experimentally evaluated. The two factors evaluated are first whether analogies improved performance and second how the functionality level of the analogy impacted performance. The experimental results showed an increase in novelty for high functionality analogies compared with the control and other experimental groups. No statistically significant difference was found with regard to quantity of ideas generated.
Quantitative analyses of intellectual property right protection
(2010-05) Thurk, Jeffrey Michael; Hendricks, Kenneth; Corbae, Dean; Miravete, Eugenio; Ramondo, Natalia; Ruhl, Kim
Research has demonstrated that the effects of intellectual property right (IPR) protection on firm research and competitive strategies are varied. This dissertation quantifies the dynamic effects of IPR protection along different dimensions. First, I show that countries choose different levels of IPR protection and develop a model to replicate these differences. This model enables me to assess the quantitative effects of trade, as well as the welfare impacts of global harmonization to a single IPR standard. Second, I explore whether IPR protection in the US is too strong. I develop a model in which firms make production and innovation decisions conditional on endogenous technological spillovers. I fit the model to key moments from US data and show that weakening patent protection is welfare decreasing. Thirdly, I show that changing US IPR standards during the 1980s had little real effect on the US Semiconductor industry vis-a-vis exogenous changes in market demand.
Using science to innovate : explaining productivity in the pharmaceutical industry innovation activities
(2012-08) Stone, Alexandra Bella; Dukerich, Janet M.; Stolp, Chandler; Wilson, Robert; Osborne, Cynthia; Callan, Benedicte; Henderson, Andrew
Scientific and technological (S&T) advances underpin opportunities for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Government-funded research institutions and firms perform biomedical research to generate S&T advances and enable pharmaceutical innovation. Previous research found that the number of new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stagnated. The observed stagnation has been interpreted as a decline in the return on research investments. The apparent decline in productivity may be due to the increasing technological difficulty of using S&T advances to develop new drugs and the organizational complexity of incorporating S&T advances generated by government-funded research institutions and firms to develop a new drug. I apply theories of organizational learning to examine how the use of S&T advances to develop new drugs affects the productivity of drug development activities, measured as the time taken to complete early stage pre-clinical research and late stage clinical development activities. I have constructed a novel data set that maps the production and utilization of S&T advances in three phases of market-oriented drug development. By measuring productivity at the project level, I am able to model productivity as the time taken to complete a R&D project as a function of three factors: (1) the technological characteristics of the drug; (2) the use of components generated by other entities; and (3) the research capabilities of the innovating firm. These models enable me to identify technological and organizational factors that affect the efficiency with which S&T advances are transformed into new drugs. Analyses indicate that different technological and organizational factors affect the productivity of pre-clinical research and clinical development. While the time taken to complete a pre-clinical research project is largely determined by the complexity and innovativeness of the drug, the time taken to complete clinical development is a function of the firm's R&D previous experience. The time taken to complete the entire drug development project is determined by the complexity of pre-clinical research and the firm's R&D capabilities. The results are discussed in detail along with policy implications.