Posted by fachad on March 13, 2002, at 11:55:20
In reply to Re: pharmaceutical news flash - expired patents, posted by johnX2 on March 13, 2002, at 4:13:36
Thanks John.
Looks like it's time for another trip to Barnes & Noble.
I've been looking for a way to figure that out for a long time. I really appreciate your response.
>
> > Seriously, though, I've been trying to determine how to find out when the patents are up. It would strongly influence my choice of meds in many cases if I knew a patent was about to expire.
> >
>
> If you ask the investors relations department
> at the pharmaceutical company, they should tell
> you (just say you are thinking about buying there
> stock because you love "xxx" (something they are
> doing that you don't give a rat's ass about), but are worried about when "zzz" (drug of interest) goes generic).
>
> Also, I have a copy of a book called the "Merck Index". This is a reference book of almost every known chemical on the planet. You can find it at the barnes and noble. The latest version can be purchased on CD. You can find a chemical/pharmaceutical and it will tell you a concise history of all it's properties. It usually lists the patent numbers that were relavent to the compound. You can then go to www.uspto.gov and actually look at the patent if you want to see the details of it.
>
> Here is an example from Zoloft (sertraline).
> Looking at the Merk index.
> US Patent 4,536,518 (1981,1985 to pfizer).
>
> Here is a link to the patent (tells a
> chemist how to make the medicine):
>
> (hope this pasted, you can punch in the patent
> number in their search page too).
>
> http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='4,536,518'.WKU.&OS=PN/4,536,518&RS=PN/4,536,518
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> -John
poster:fachad
thread:97579
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020313/msgs/97793.html