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Review
. 2023 Apr 13;66(7):4532-4547.
doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00148. Epub 2023 Apr 3.

Oldie but Goodie: Is Technetium-99m Still a Treasure Trove of Innovation for Medicine? A Patents Analysis (2000-2022)

Mattia Riondato  1 , Dorotea Rigamonti  2 , Petra Martini  3 , Corrado Cittanti  4 , Alessandra Boschi  5 , Luca Urso  4 , Licia Uccelli  4
Affiliations
Review

Oldie but Goodie: Is Technetium-99m Still a Treasure Trove of Innovation for Medicine? A Patents Analysis (2000-2022)

Mattia Riondato et al. J Med Chem. .

Abstract

Technetium-99m is the workhorse of diagnostic nuclear medicine. The aim of the work is to analyze the technetium-99m patents since 2000 to photograph its innovation. QUESTEL's ORBIT Intelligence system was used for the collection of technetium inventions disclosed in patents and patent applications in more than 96 countries in the period 2000-2022; 2768 patent documents were analyzed. Patent counting and analysis have shown that SPECT imaging using technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals is still robust. The introduction of new technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals into clinical routine goes beyond successful trials. In eastern economies, such as China and other emerging markets, patent applications are on the rise, while those in developed western countries are stagnating, with some exceptions for the United States. But despite the difficulties, academic and industrial research on these tracers remains essential for the development of nuclear medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Group of 35 technology fields based on the IPC codes (cluster of 2768 patent documents). Colors represent the patent number in the field, in particular: red = most numerous and gray = least numerous.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flowchart for data cleaning operation after first 99mTc-patent document extraction using ORBIT Intelligence and author’s inspection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Graph illustrating the 30-top applicants and their related total number of applications in 2000–2022 according to their legal status (light blue, pending; blue, granted; red, dead), adapted from the Questel’s IP Business Intelligence application (Orbit Intelligence).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Graph illustrating the evolution of application over time by the 20 top applicants, created on Questel’s IP Business Intelligence application (Orbit Intelligence)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Graph illustrating citations between the 20 top applicants, created on Questel’s IP Business Intelligence application (Orbit Intelligence).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Recent 99mTc-coordination models.
Figure 7
Figure 7
99mTc-radiotracers for imaging prostate cancer.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Geographical and chronological patent distribution worldwide of the final data set (X-axis reports geographical macroareas per year; Y-axis reports the number of patents).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Patent documents trend of “New Radiotracers/new indications” and “Alternative processes 99mTc availability”. Y-axis reports the patents number.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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