The database covers COVID-19 vaccines approved in at least one country as well as those progressing on WHO EUL/PQ evaluation process.

> Click the link called “Status of COVID-19 vaccines within WHO EUL/prequalification evaluation process” under the EUL Submissions tab.

Additional vaccine candidates will be added in the coming weeks.

VaxPaL includes patent information for all countries for which patent data could be obtained.

Information on the main patents and patent applications for the selected vaccines is collected from various sources such as publicly available patent search databases, regional or national patent office databases, the originator/innovator’s website, scientific literature or financial statements and was manually reviewed. Other information such as licence agreements and potential contractual arrangements was also drawn from various sources such as financial statements, innovator’s website, or press releases. The bulk of the searching and analysis of patent data is performed by iProPAT Intellectual Property Solutions for each vaccine. The data is then compiled, cross-checked and supplemented by MPP with information/patents identified from other publicly available patent landscapes and internal searches. See details on the methodology used for identifying relevant patents and patent applications below.

The database contains patent families identified as being relevant or potentially relevant for the selected COVID-19 vaccines.

A comment “(relevance could not be ascertained at the time of identification)” is added to the Patent Description to indicate when further analysis is still needed to assess the relevance of a patent family because detailed technical information on the vaccine is not publicly available yet (e.g. technical information or processes, or exact composition).

The database is updated to add new vaccines with their relevant patent families and detailed patent status. Newly identified patent families for the vaccines already listed will also be added.

We update patent data on VaxPaL on a regular basis. For certain countries, for which data is available on the European Patent Office’s Open Patent Service, the information is updated on a monthly basis. For other countries, for products that are regularly searched on VaxPaL and attract the most attention, we undertake updates on a quarterly basis. For other products, information will be updated at least once a year.

The methodology and procedures used by iProPAT Intellectual Property Solutions for the identification of relevant patents for the COVID vaccines was as follows:

Step 1: (Collecting basic information on the vaccine)

In this step basic information on each vaccine was retrieved, such as approval information, product labels, vaccine construct and its preparation, composition, ingredients used in compositions, indication and technology involved in the preparation of each vaccine, and information from journals and press releases. Collecting this information relied mainly on different databases including those of the USFDA, EMA, WHO, clinical trials database, SEC filings & press releases of innovator companies as well as third parties.

A search for information from the innovator and/or other companies involved in the development/manufacturing of the vaccine was conducted, searching for any licence agreements related to the product. If so, a search was conducted on the companies that were involved to see if any terms and conditions were available in the public domain.

Step 2: (Product study)

This step involved an understanding of the key modifications made in the vaccine construct to elicit pharmacological action and method of preparation, if applicable; an understanding of the role of excipients used in the vaccine; and an understanding of the technology and its applicability.

Step 3: (Patent search)

This step involved:

• • A search for patent information in company websites and press releases to check whether any patents are listed for the vaccine by the innovator or any third party. We also searched in the Annual Reports of the innovator, journals related to the vaccine and third-party articles to check whether any patent information is listed.

• • A search in publicly available patent searching databases like USPTO, WIPO, ESPACENET and Google Patents database with keywords like inventor names disclosed in publicly available literature, vaccine candidates, and excipient combinations, technical names, vaccine codes and innovator names.

Step 4: (Picking relevant patents & providing patent status in worldwide countries)

This step involved picking relevant patents based on the information available, mapping them for vaccine candidate relevance and collecting information on the status of relevant patents in countries around the world.

Patent status information was collected from public patent databases including national and regional online patent registers. When the family included an Indian patent or patent application, the latest Form 3 submitted by the applicant to the Indian Patent Office and listing equivalents worldwide (under Section 8 of the Indian Patents Act 1970) was also checked and used as a source for identifying family members.

iProPAT landscapes for each vaccine were reviewed and compiled by MPP. The patent families were cross-checked and supplemented with information identified from other sources such as publicly available landscape or articles.