Using patents to create greener health care

Renaldo Frankie Machin, Kathleen Daly and Ben Seidman of IP firm Finnegan explain how companies are innovating in their materials and manufacturing processes, and what challenges lie ahead.

The development of environmentally friendly technology – or green technology – has increased in many industries. Applications of green technology include reducing energy and water consumption, using recyclable/renewable materials, and extending the lifespan of products to reduce waste, among many other developments.

Yet, healthcare is not readily associated with this trend. Quite the contrary – it is estimated that the healthcare sector generates approximately 4.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions. And as more countries continue to develop and gain access to better health care, these emissions are likely to increase.

Despite these statistics, a closer look at the healthcare industry reveals that it is making strides in the development and use of green technology as new products are using green materials, reducing waste and saving energy. reducing consumption.

Green Innovation in Healthcare Sector

Take for example the new BlueSeal MRI released by Philips, which uses only 0.5% liquid helium of a conventional MRI. Helium traditionally keeps MRI magnets at the required supercooled temperatures, but helium is also a non-renewable gas that pollutes the Earth when extracted. A 99.5% reduction in the use of helium will help reduce the consumption and pollution of this gas.

Another example of a green technological development in health care is biodegradable materials for medical implants. Biodegradable implants cover a wide range of medical applications, such as stents for cardiac treatment, scaffolds to hold broken bones in place and promote healing, sprayable adhesives to close wounds, and more Some. Many of these implants offer the added advantage that they do not require any further surgery to be removed once healing is complete as they can be safely destroyed in the body.

Other examples of green technology in health care include using 3D printing to develop prosthetics and redesigning home diagnostic tests to use fewer materials, including plastics, all of which reduce waste. Are.

Tracking the trajectory of green medtech innovation through IP

However, green tech innovation is not for the faint hearted. The 2022 World Intellectual Property Report described such efforts as “costly and risky”. , , No guarantee of success.” Other publications have noted how green technology is generally more technologically complex than its non-green innovation counterparts. This makes intellectual property (IP) and the competitive protection it provides important for supporting green technological innovation.

Strong IP protects stakeholders who invest in new projects designed to produce eco-friendly, risk-averse products. Patents can be extremely important for green technology, and the number of patent applications filed claiming eco-friendly inventions is sometimes used as a litmus test to show progress in using innovation to mitigate climate change. is used as.

Based on that litmus test, the world appeared to be on track to effectively use innovation to mitigate climate change. By 2005, there was a significant increase in total patent filings directed towards green tech. Unfortunately, as International Energy Agency (IEA) data shows, by 2015 it was clear that the bubble on green tech patent filings had burst. The reasons for this have been highly debated, but possible culprits include a variety of green technologies (such as those related to energy and transportation) maturing faster than expected and continued dependence on fossil fuels.

Even though the green tech patent filing bubble has burst overall, when the focus is on the healthcare sector, a clear pattern emerges: a slow but nearly unbroken increase in the number of green tech patents filed since 1990 – with 100 applications – with 368 applications – as of 2015 – when the IEA analyzed the available data. But understanding what’s causing that increase has been a challenge, partly because of a lack of data. Most of the available data is more than a decade old and focuses on green technology generally, rather than health care-specific applications. Thus, it is important to collect and analyze additional data so that informed decisions can be made to effectively support green tech healthcare innovation.

What Should You Know as a Green Health Care Innovator?

Innovators looking to go green in the healthcare sector can still take some guidance from studies on green technology and patents as a whole. For example, a 2019 Cambridge report showed that collaboration with the government could increase patent activity for start-ups developing green technologies by 73%. Government investment could potentially help reduce the financial risk associated with developing green technology in healthcare. As a result, innovators should not shy away from such partnerships wherever available.

Similarly, international agreements have led to an increase in patents for green technology. An example is the Kyoto Protocol which came into force in 1997. Although it expired in 2012, signatories dramatically increased the number of patent applications on green tech while the treaty was in force.

Many countries are playing their role at the national level. For example, the United States is encouraging innovation in green technology, including technology related to health care. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has introduced a “Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program” that accelerates the examination of patent applications “that involve technologies that mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions”. ” Indeed, other top patenting countries, such as China, the UK, Japan and many others, have implemented similar programs, providing additional incentives to innovate in green technology.

Ultimately, social and economic forces are expected to continue to pressure companies to commit to green technology. As climate change escalates and essential resources become scarcer, it will be harder to avoid going green. Healthcare is no exception – it’s an area ripe for green tech disruption. However, it also appears that public-private partnerships and government programs will be key to this green tech health care disruption.

Green innovators in healthcare would benefit from thinking long term and examining countries of their interest for upcoming programs or subsidies that would strengthen the IP protection of their products. It is conceivable that countries with more and better programs will be more responsive to green healthcare technology disruptions and that innovators targeting those areas will reap the greatest rewards and in the process have the greatest impact in mitigating climate change. .