Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Globalization and Health
Published in: Globalization and Health 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research

Diffusion, convergence and influence of pharmaceutical innovations: a comparative study of Chinese and U.S. patents

Authors: Qiaolei Jiang, Chunjuan Luan

Published in: Globalization and Health | Issue 1/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Despite the significant impact of pharmaceutical innovations on healthcare, our understanding is still limited because previous studies explored only a few cases and largely came from a linear perspective. This study presents a detailed case of the Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical patents and investigated advancements that the global pharmaceutical industry is experiencing. A network analysis approach was used to identify certain aspects regarding the diffusion of pharmaceutical innovations, including innovation attributes, adopter characteristics, and clustering.

Methods

Based on a patent database, network analysis and visualization, this study captured the structure of patent networks for the global pharmaceutical landscape in a large set of patents. A large volume of patent data, 15,422 patent filings citing Chinese pharmaceutical patents, 28,075 citing U.S. patents, and 6064 citing both Chinese and U.S. patents during 2014–2015, were retrieved from the world patent database, Derwent Innovation Index. The networks reveal many interesting features of technological innovation, convergence trends and diffusion patterns.

Results

Convergence innovations were identified, with the advantage and influence of U.S. patents shown in a variety of areas, and their Chinese counterparts were concentrated in traditional Chinese medicine. Early adopters of Chinese patents were mainly universities within the national sector, while early adopters of U.S. patents were academic institutions and large international pharmaceutical corporations of balanced quantity, contributing a higher degree of technology convergence. Technology convergence in the cancer-treatment sector is expected to have a high future development potential.

Conclusion

Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical innovations contributed differently to the growth and development of the global pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study can provide rich knowledge about the influence, diffusion and convergence trends of Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical innovations. In the pharmaceutical industry, the findings may provide implications for researchers, policy makers, health professionals, and the general public to help improve the overall health of society.
Literature
1.
Deng MM. China patent law and implications for international pharmaceutical companies. Expert Rev Clin Phar. 2010;3:713–6.CrossRef
2.
Malerba F. The evolution of the pharmaceutical industry. Bus Hist. 2015;57:664–87.CrossRef
3.
Empowering People A-SN. Organizations through information. J Health Commun. 2012;17:1–4.
4.
Yancey A, Stewart CN Jr. Patent reform in the US: what's at stake for pharmaceutical innovation? Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2010;20:603–8.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Chataway J, Tait J, Wield D. Frameworks for pharmaceutical innovation in developing countries—the case of Indian pharma. Technol Anal Strateg. 2007;19:697–708.CrossRef
6.
Malik NN. Key issues in the pharmaceutical industry: consequences on R&D. Expert Opin Drug Dis. 2009;4:15–9.CrossRef
7.
Slinn J. Patents and the UK pharmaceutical industry between 1945 and the 1970s. Hist Technol. 2008;24:191–205.CrossRef
8.
Magazzini L, Pammolli F, Riccaboni M, Rossi MA. Patent disclosure and R&D competition in pharmaceuticals. Econ Innovation New Tech. 2009;18:467–86.CrossRef
9.
Bradfield R, El-Sayed H. Four scenarios for the future of the pharmaceutical industry. Technol Anal Strateg. 2009;21:195–212.CrossRef
10.
Muzaka V. Prizes for pharmaceuticals? Mitigating the social ineffectiveness of the current pharmaceutical patent arrangement. Third World Q. 2013;34:151–69.CrossRef
11.
Gilmartin RV. One point of view: winning in pharmaceutical research. Res Technol Manage. 1998;4:9–12.CrossRef
12.
Hu Y, Scherngell T, Qiu L, Wang Y. R&D internationalisation patterns in the global pharmaceutical industry: evidence from a network analytic perspective. Technol Anal Strateg. 2015;27:532–49.CrossRef
13.
Steele PR. Patenting of pharmaceuticals by academic institutions. Expert Opin Ther Pat. 1997;7:1251–6.CrossRef
14.
Hu T, Myers M. A comparison between China and U.S. drug Laws. Clin Res P Drug Regul Aff. 1988;6:257–92.
15.
Yeung G. The implications of WTO accession on the pharmaceutical industry in China. J Contemp China. 2002;11:473–93.CrossRef
16.
Ding Z, Zheng X, Wu X. Strategies for expanding the international influences of Academic Journals. Serials Rev. 2012;38:80–5.CrossRef
17.
Motohashi K. Catching up or lagging behind? Assessment of technological capacity of China by patent database. China Econ J. 2009;2:1–24.CrossRef
18.
Xie H, Zhang H, Zhang S, He S. Analysis of antibiotic patents issued in China from 1992 to 2011. Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2012;22:1205–32.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Xie H, Zhang H, Cao K, He P, Dai H, He S. Analysis of anti-asthmatic drug patents published in China between 2004 and 2013. Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2016;26:363–76.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Sucher NJ. The application of Chinese medicine to novel drug discovery. Expert Opin Drug Dis. 2013;8:21–34.CrossRef
21.
Doyal L. Health, underdevelopment and traditional medicine. Holistic Med. 1987;2:27–40.CrossRef
22.
Xu W, Xing FJ, Dong K, You C, Yan Y, Zhang L, Zhao G, Chen Y, Wang K. Application of traditional Chinese medicine preparation in targeting drug delivery system. Drug Deliv. 2015;22:258–65.CrossRefPubMed
23.
24.
Gilman NV. Analysis for science librarians of the 2015 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine: the life and work of William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura, and Youyou Tu. Sci Tech Libr. 2016;35:35–58.CrossRef
25.
Hsu E. Chinese propriety medicines: an “alternative modernity?” the case of the anti-malarial substance artemisinin in East Africa. Med Anthropol. 2009;28:111–40.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Njuguna NM, Ongarora DSB, Chibale K. Artemisinin derivatives: a patent review (2006–present). Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2012;22:1179–203.CrossRefPubMed
27.
28.
29.
Lichtenberg FR. Pharmaceutical innovation and the burden of disease in developing and developed countries. J Med Philos. 2005;30:663–90.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press; 2003.
31.
Rogers EM. A prospective and retrospective look at the diffusion model. J Health Commun. 2004;9:13–9.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Moseley SF. Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory: its utility and value in public health. J Health Commun. 2004;9:149–51.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Dearing JW. Improving the state of health programming by using diffusion theory. J Health Commun. 2004;9:21–36.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Haider M, Kreps GL. Forty years of diffusion of innovations: utility and value in public health. J Health Commun. 2004;9:3–11.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Hornik R. Some reflections on diffusion theory and the role of Everett Rogers. J Health Commun. 2004;9:143–8.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Diffusion Methodology MG. Time to Innovate? J Health Commun. 2004;9:59–69.CrossRef
37.
Ratzan SC. Health information: diffusing information to knowledge and action. J Health Commun. 2011;16:923–4.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Hafner KA. The pattern of international patenting and technology diffusion. Appl Econ. 2008;40:2819–37.CrossRef
39.
40.
Wang JH, Tsai C. National Model of technological catching up and innovation: comparing patents of Taiwan and South Korea. J Dev Stud. 2010;46:1404–23.CrossRef
41.
Fink C, Khan M, Zhou H. Exploring the worldwide patent surge. Econ Innovation New Tech. 2016;25:114–42.CrossRef
42.
Choi JY, Jeong S, Kim K. A study on diffusion pattern of technology convergence: patent analysis for Korea. Sustainability. 2015;7:11546–69.CrossRef
43.
Macklis RM, Sharma N. Convergence technology in cancer medicine. Expert Rev Med Devices. 2011;8:263–73.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Lee K. Toward a new paradigm of technological innovation: convergence innovation. Expert Rev Med Devices. 2015;23:1–8.
45.
Jang Y. Technological convergence through industrial research collaboration: a comparative analysis between the U.S. and Korea. Asian J Technol Inno. 2009;17:101–20.CrossRef
46.
Chen Y, Chang K. Exploring the nonlinear effects of patent citations, patent share and relative patent position on market value in the US pharmaceutical industry. Technol Anal Strateg. 2010;22:153–69.CrossRef
47.
Radosevic S. Technological 'Catching-up' potential of central and Eastern Europe: an analysis based on US foreign patenting data. Technol Anal Strateg. 1999;11:95–111.CrossRef
48.
Vadrot ABM. “Rather a manager and networker than a researcher”: converging technologies in the clinic. Innov. 2013;26:376–97.
49.
You Y, Kim B, Jeong E. An exploratory study on the development path of converging technologies using patent analysis: the case of nano biosensors. Asian J Technol Inno. 2014;22:100–13.CrossRef
50.
Tegart G. Converging technologies and their implications for technology transfer: the cases of European networks (N EuroNet) and NBIC (nano-bio-info-cogno) technologies as drivers of change. Innov. 2005;7:468–76.CrossRef
51.
Siedlok F, Smart P, Gupta A. Convergence and reorientation via open innovation: the emergence of nutraceuticals. Technol Anal Strateg. 2010;22:571–92.CrossRef
52.
Cameron G, Proudman J, Redding S. Technological convergence, R&D, trade and productivity growth. Eur Econ Rev. 2005;49:775–807.CrossRef
53.
Kumar S, Russell RR. Technological change, technological catch-up, and capital deepening: relative contributions to growth and convergence during 90’s. Am Econ Rev. 2002;92:527–48.CrossRef
54.
Zhao D, Strotmann A. The Knowledge Base and research front of information science 2006-2010: an author Cocitation and bibliographic coupling analysis. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol. 2014;65:995–1006.CrossRef
55.
Jeong S, Kim JC, Choi JY. Technology convergence: what developmental stage are we in? Scientometrics. 2015;104:841–71.CrossRef
56.
Kim C, Kim M. Identifying core environmental technologies through patent analysis. Innov. 2015;17:139–58.CrossRef
57.
Luan CJ, Liu ZY, Wang XW. Divergence and convergence: technology-relatedness evolution in solar energy industry. Scientometrics. 2013;97:461–75.CrossRef
58.
Yu F, Wu Y. Patent citations and knowledge spillovers: an analysis of Chinese patents registered in the USA. Asian J Technol Inno. 2014;22:86–99.CrossRef
59.
60.
Kim E, Cho Y, Kim W. Dynamic patterns of technological convergence in printed electronics technologies: patent citation network. Scientometrics. 2014;98:975–98.CrossRef
61.
Yang S, Han R, Wolfram D, Zhao Y. Visualizing the intellectual structure of information science (2006-2015): introducing author keyword coupling analysis. J Inf Secur. 2016;10:132–50.
62.
Huang J, Tang J, Qu Y, Zhang L, Zhou Y, Bao S, Mu D. Mapping the knowledge structure of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy over the past decade: a co-word analysis based on keywords. J Child Neurol. 2016;31:797–803.CrossRefPubMed
63.
Mogee ME, Kolar RG. Patent citation analysis of Allergan pharmaceutical patents. Expert Opin Ther Pat. 1998;8:1323–46.CrossRef
64.
Naghizadeh R, Elahi S, Manteghi M, Ghazinoory S, Ranga M. Through the magnifying glass: an analysis of regional innovation models based on co-word and meta-synthesis methods. Qual Quant. 2015;49:2481–505.CrossRef
65.
Thijs B, Zhang L, Glanzel W. Bibliographic coupling and hierarchical clustering for the validation and improvement of subject-classification schemes. Scientometrics. 2015;105:1453–67.CrossRef
66.
67.
Chen C. CiteSpace II: detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol. 2006;57:359–77.CrossRef
68.
69.
70.
Chen C. Predictive effects of structural variation on citation counts. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol. 2012;63:431–49.CrossRef
71.
Chen C, Leydesdorff L. Patterns of connections and movements in dual-map overlays: a new method of publication portfolio analysis. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol. 2014;65:334–51.CrossRef
72.
Ma J, Porter AL. Analyzing patent topical information to identify technology pathways and potential opportunities. Scientometrics. 2015;102:811–27.CrossRef
73.
Kim M, Zhu Y, Chen C. How are they different? A quantitative domain comparison of information visualization and data visualization (2000-2014). Scientometrics. 2016;107:123–65.CrossRef
74.
Johnson JD. UCINET – a software tool for network analysis. Commun Educ. 1987;36:92–4.CrossRef
75.
76.
Niosi J. Rethinking science, technology and innovation (STI) institutions in developing countries. Innov. 2010;12:250–68.CrossRef
77.
Lofstedt RE. The impact of the Cox-2 inhibitor issue on perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry: content analysis and communication implications. J Health Commun. 2007;12:471–91.CrossRefPubMed
78.
Ren S, Su P. Open innovation and intellectual property strategy: the catch-up processes of two Chinese pharmaceutical firms. Technol Anal Strateg. 2015;27:1159–75.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Diffusion, convergence and influence of pharmaceutical innovations: a comparative study of Chinese and U.S. patents
Authors
Qiaolei Jiang
Chunjuan Luan
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Globalization and Health / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1744-8603
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0408-z

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

Globalization and Health 1/2018 Go to the issue

Research

A critical examination of empowerment discourse in medical tourism: the case of the dental tourism industry in Los Algodones, Mexico

Editorial

Reprising the globalization dimensions of international health

Research

Chile’s role in global health diplomacy: a narrative literature review

Research

Effective practices of international volunteering for health: perspectives from partner organizations

Research

South-south collaboration on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment research: when birds of a feather rarely flock together

Research

Health in Yemen: losing ground in war time