Data mining and panoramic analysis on global Nipah virus-related patent applications

  Objective   To describe the status of Nipah virus-related patent application around the world and to provide references for relevant patent application and researches in China.

  Methods  Global data on Nipah virus-related patent applications from 2002 up to August 18, 2020 were searched through Derwent Innovations Index of Web of Science. Derwent Data Analyzer 9.0 was adopted to conduct data mining and panoramic analysis on overall trend, technology field and layout, countries of registration, and protection intensity of the declared patents.

  Results  From the year of 2002, the annual number of Nipah virus-related patent applications increased generally. The United States, China and Canada are among the major registration countries of those patent applications. The filed patent applications were mainly for antiviral agent, viral antigen or antibody products, DNA recombination technology, vaccine development, and virus detection method. The number of patent applications for antiviral agents/antivirals and viral antigen/antibody is relatively small in China compared to that in major registration countries.

  Conclusion   The increase in annual number of Nipah virus-related patent applications indicates that technology research and development on the pathogen of biosafety level 4 are enhanced continuously in the United States and other countries and relevant researches need to be promoted in China for Nipah virus-related biosafety and epidemic prevention.