The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the evolution of new treatment paradigms, and the gravity of unmet needs, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as pharmacogenomics, digital therapeutics, and artificial intelligence. In the last three years alone, there have been over 633,000 patents filed and granted in the pharmaceutical industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Small molecules in Pharmaceuticals: Quinoline derivatives as anticancer agents.
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 756,000 patents to analyse innovation intensity for the pharmaceutical industry, there are 110 innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Quinoline derivatives is a key innovation area for anticancer agents
Quinolines are heterocyclic aromatic organic compounds with the chemical formula C9H7N. The structure of quinoline is represented by the fusion of benzene ring with pyridine at two neighbouring carbon atoms. Quinoline can be either derived from natural sources or synthesised artificially. Cuspareine, Cusparine, Galipine, Vasicine, Echinopsine, Nitidine, Lavendamycin, Chelerythrine, Dictamnine, Camptothecin, and Chelidonine are some of the naturally existing quinoline alkaloids with potent anticancer activity.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 60+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of quinoline derivatives as anticancer agents.
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Exelixis is one of the leading patent filers of quinoline derivatives as anticancer agents. Exelixis is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development and commercialisation of small molecules for the treatment of cancer. The company’s products Cometriq and Cabometyx are quinoline derivatives developed for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
In terms of application diversity, Precigen is the top company, followed by Biogen and LEO Foundation. By means of geographic reach, Cytokinetics holds the top position. Zhejiang DTRM Biopharma and Oncore Biopharma stand in second and third positions, respectively.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Pharmaceutical.
