On 25 November the awards ceremony of the first China (Xiaoshan) high-value patent cultivation competition for the biopharmaceutical industry — the China biomedical patent competition — was held. Westlake Pharmaceuticals’ entry, the original small-molecule drug Mprosevir®, had performed strongly in the semi-finals and final, taking third prize.
The competition is the first national intellectual property event focused on biopharmaceuticals. It received 209 entries from 23 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China as well as from overseas, of which 16 reached the final.
Dr. Qi Wu, deputy director of R&D, Ruojian Zhang, head of intellectual property, and Yiran Cai, assistant to the general manager, represented the company. In the innovation pitch, Ruojian Zhang presented the company’s first product, the original anti-coronavirus drug Mprosevir®, explaining its patent value as well as the discovery model and patent cultivation system behind it.
Mprosevir® has an entirely new scaffold and strong original value. The Westlake Pharmaceuticals team took the product from first discovery through clinical trials.
The core compound patent for Mprosevir® has been granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, and applications have been filed in the other major markets for this class of drug. The company’s patent cultivation system gives it a rational and comprehensive patent portfolio.
The competition is supported by the IP Development Research Centre of the CNIPA, the China Association for Medical Devices Industry, the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the pharmaceutical IP committee of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and the pharmaceutical committee of the China Intellectual Property Protection Association, and jointly organised by the Xiaoshan district government, the Hangzhou administration for market regulation (IP office), the Zhejiang IP Association and the IP Publishing House.
A sound patent cultivation system supports innovation, helping companies and institutes turn high-quality research into industrial and commercial results — an institutional guarantee for sustained development.
The award reflects recognition by industry experts of the company’s patent value and its patent cultivation system. Westlake Pharmaceuticals will keep focusing on original drug discovery.