A stricter interpretation: the EPO and antibodies

27-10-2020

Joachim Wachenfeld and Florian Grasser

A stricter interpretation: the EPO and antibodies

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Is the grant of a reasonable scope for antibody-related inventions at the European Patent Office a phenomenon of the past? Joachim Wachenfeld and Florian Grasser of Vossius & Partner report.

The invention of the antibody hybridoma technology by Nobel prize winners Georges Köhler and César Milstein in 1975 paved the way to the development of therapeutic antibodies.

The first therapeutic monoclonal antibody obtained market approval in the US in 1986. Since then the market value of therapeutic antibodies has grown to approximately $115.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $300 billion in 2025.

Along with this development, the number of patent applications seeking protection for therapeutic antibodies at the European Patent Office (EPO) has constantly grown and is growing further.


EPO, therapeutic antibodies, inventions, Vossius & Partner, prior art, CDRs, framework regions, Boards of Appeal, US Patent and Trademark Office

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