Analysis of patents on anti-gout therapies issued in China

Introduction: The incidence of gout and hyperuricemia has been increasing. The demand for new anti-gout therapies today presents exciting opportunities to organizations and individuals offering such products. Areas covered: This review analyzes the patents of anti-gout products to help pharmaceutical companies and individuals in the patenting of potential candidate drugs for gout treatment in China. Expert opinion: In this review, 786 patents were found, among which, 215 are in the protection period. The latter group of patents includes 183 patents for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM, 85%), 30 for synthetic compounds (14%) and 2 for combinations of synthetic compounds and TCM (CST). Among the TCM patents, 84% contain various dosage formulae for different Chinese medicines, 13% are herbal extracts and only 7 patents are from herbal extract derivatives. Synthetic compound patents mainly target xanthine oxidase, urate transporter 1 and uric acid oxidase. Searching for new targets and drugs acting on multiple targets should provide a new stimulus in the field of synthetic compound patents. CST has the smallest proportion of Chinese anti-gout patents, although it is still in the test stage and has not been widely accepted, but has provided a new direction for the field of anti-gout patents.