Diabetes area patent participation analysis – part II: years 2011-2016

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of plasma glucose. When untreated, diabetes increases the risk of developing co-morbidities such as cardiovascular disease. Several drugs, often used as part of combination therapies, have been approved to treat the disease, but these drugs will eventually fail to effectively control blood glucose levels, at which point insulin replacement therapy is required. A medical need exists for new antidiabetic drugs that exhibit good efficacy with improved safety/toleration profiles and can be added on top of existing therapies, or that can provide additional benefits beyond glucose lowering such as pancreatic beta (β)-cell protection.Areas covered: This review analyzes drug targets and applicants of patents that published between 2011–2016 claiming novel small or large molecules for the treatment of diabetes, and compares the results to the 2008–2010 time period.Expert opinion: A majority of patent activity around the discover...