2020 ended with approximately 3 million vaccines administered and millions more to follow in the coming months. The development of the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca, and other worldwide developers over a period of less than 12 months is nothing short of remarkable, so how did it happen? Much of the success of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is owed to Scripps Research Institute, which developed a method to isolate stable compositions of the COVID-19 Spike protein central to both the RNA vaccines. While Scripps’ most recently published application, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20200407402, was only filed back in September (a testament to the speed with which the COVID fast track is working), Scripps’ research on the spike protein can be found as far back as an application with priority to 2016 by Scripps, Dartmouth University, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Both Moderna and Pfizer have built off this research in order to develop their vaccines, while Scripps is clearly seeking to add to its already considerable patent portfolio.
It appears that the presaging of Pfizer and Moderna’s extraordinary development by research patents over specific proteins may begin to look like the rule, rather than the exception. RNA vaccines are looking like they are highly reprogrammable, meaning that new vaccines for other diseases could begin to develop rapidly. That’s where the Patent Forecast® comes in. With the Patent Forecast®, you can see not only industry patent activity, but university and other research patent activity as well. This data may well be predictive of which drug developers come out on top. For example, Pfizer’s quick success in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine could easily have been foreseen by noting that Scripps Research Institute has a longstanding relationship with Pfizer. Looking just at the publications this week, one can mark down another possible development. This week, an application by MIT on zymogens for treating HIV published. HIV is looking like it may be a potential application of the new RNA vaccines, with prominent HIV researchers, such as Dr. Michael Farzan at Scripps, also being major contributors to research on COVID-19. Farzan’s relationship with Scripps and MIT’s involvement (and strong relationship with Pfizer) may suggest that Pfizer could again take a lead on the development of an HIV vaccine.
For more developments about research patent activity and its implications for future vaccine development, check out our free Patent Forecast® for Pandemics.
