Eli Lilly - DNA patenting through the ages

Eli Lilly has one of the largest DNA patent portfolios of any major pharmac eutical company and was one of the first to be awarded a gene patent, refle cting its long standing interest in insulin for the treatment of diabetes. Its main thrust has been in the use of genetic engineering to improve ferme ntation technologies for antibiotic production emphasising the tight margin s in this area. However, fermentation expertise is now utilised for the pro duction of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and other human proteins for therapeutic use as well as for the production of targets for high throughpu t screening (HTS).