Medical technology offers high profit potential. In the latest statistics from the European Patent Office, this field of technology has the second-highest number of applications. However, the bar is set high: those who do not go about their work professionally will fall by the wayside. It is therefore crucial to know the potential pitfalls of Patents and Licenses.

An Israeli research group is developing a device to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. It is based on the fact that Alzheimer’s patients react differently to certain nerve stimulators than healthy people. When a low dose of the nerve stimulator is administered to the patient’s retina, the pupil changes differently to that of a healthy person. The device therefore has a camera that measures the pupil at regular intervals. The measurements are compared with standard data and from this it can be deduced whether the person being examined suffers from Alzheimer’s. The European Patent Office rejected the Patent Application on the grounds that the invention protects a “diagnostic method on the human body”. (T0143/04)Patentability problems also arise with “reach-through claims”: Bayer discovers that a novel mechanism of action can be used for drugs against cardiovascular diseases. This is done by influencing a certain biochemical signaling pathway. It then applies for a European patent for the use of any compounds that stimulate a specific enzyme (namely soluble guanylate cyclase). In the description, Bayer gives a concrete example of such a compound and a method for finding other compounds with the same effect. The European Patent Office rejects the claim: it is far too broad and covers substances that have not yet been found. Read more here.