Chemical & Life Sciences Highlight: Common pitfalls that can sink your pharmaceutical search

There are so many different ways in looking up a chemical compound or pharmaceutical, that pinpointing precisely what you are looking for can become extremely tricky. Even the most simple-sounding, almost universally known pharmaceuticals, like Aspirin, can be identified in patent documents by almost countless names. Aspirin can be known as Bayer Aspirin, Acetylsalicylic acid, 2-Acetoxybenzoic acid - and this is merely the tip of the iceberg. For even the most general search, it can be a toilsome undertaking for even a highly trained organic chemist to conceive of all the possibilities - and inadvertently missing just one of them can have a huge impact on the comprehensiveness of your search results.

For the broadest search, the most commonly used names are the Trade Name, United States Adopted Name, International Nonproprietary Name, IUPAC Name and Chemical Abstract Index Name.

 

  • Trade Name: The brand name it is marketed as. Typically comes back as the trade name it is commonly advertised as in the United States.

 

  • United States Adopted Name/United States Pharmacopeia (USAN/USP): The U.S.-adopted name of the compound, which officially certifies that the item contains the given compound. In many cases, the generic name for a drug.

 

  • International Nonproprietary Name: The official non-proprietary name given to a pharmaceutical drug or an active ingredient. This is an attempt to avoid prescription errors across borders, in the event countries use different trade names.

 

  • IUPAC Name: Chemistry’s systematic method of naming chemical compounds

 

  • Chemical Abstract Index Name: Chemical Abstract Service name for a chemical structure. Can be different from IUPAC name.

 

Trazodone, sold under many trade names, is a popular depression medication thought to work by increasing the activity of serotonin in the brain. In this example, you can see just how increasingly complex the naming structures become, and how easy it can be to miss what you might be looking for:

Trade Name: Desyrel, Oleptro
United States Adopted Name/United States Pharmacopeia (USAN/USP): Trazodone
hydrochloride
International Nonproprietary Name (INN): Trazodone
British Approved Name: Trazodone
IUPAC Name:
2-{3-[4-(3-Chlorophenyl)piperazin-1-yl]propyl}[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyridin-3(2H)-one
Chemical Abstract Index Name:
1,2,4-Triazolo[4,3-a]pyridin-3(2H)-one, 2-[3-[4-(3-chlorophenyl)-1-piperazinyl]propyl]-
2-[3-[4-(3-Chlorophenyl)-1-piperazinyl]propyl]-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridine-3(2H)-one

As you can see, there are so many ways you can describe a compound when searching for it within a database. Luckily, there are a few tools to help in identifying the right names to use in a general patent search:

http://www.commonchemistry.org/
https://fdasis.nlm.nih.gov/srs/unii/YBK48BXK30
https://fdasis.nlm.nih.gov/srs/
https://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/name-ser/

Even when using the tools above, it can be very easy to miss relevant patent documents - which can have a destructive impact on an aspiring innovation or patent portfolio at large. Patent searches conducted by someone unfamiliar with your industry can easily miss the details that can land you in hot water. When dealing with chemical compounds and pharmaceuticals, it is critical to have the right set of eyes to help guide the big decisions impacting your best interests.

Eugene Lhymn