BRITISH-TECHNOLOGY-GROUP - ANALYSIS OF PATENTING 1993 - 1996

The British Technology Group plc acquires intellectual property rights by filing its own patent applications and through purchases from exte rnal sources, chiefly non-industrial. Biosciences have been one of BTG 's strengths for more than 30 years and pharmaceuticals now account fo r about 25% of the Group's internal patenting and licensing activity. Cancer therapies are a particular focus, and Zeneca have recently laun ched an antimetabolite licensed from BTG. This review of BTG's own pat enting indicates that a thorough and increasingly selective procedure is in place for protecting potential pharmaceutical products, in line with the Group's objective of a fully licensed patent portfolio.