Table 1.
Categories to distinguish and classify NTD-related patents filed in Brazil (1980–2015)
| Category | Sub-category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Diseases targeted | Chagas | Scientific genus “Trypanosoma cruzi” |
| Leishmaniasis | Scientific genus “Leishmania” | |
| Malaria | Scientific name “Plasmodium” | |
| Tuberculosis | Scientific genus “Mycobacterium” was not used because shared with other different diseases. Only the species name was used | |
| HIV | Scientific genus “Lentivirus” | |
| Infectious diseases | Patents targeting a group of diseases not limited to a single NTDs, or patents targeting other relevant NTDs such as leprosy and dengue | |
| Invention use | Diagnostic | An invention concerned with the medical diagnosis of an illness or disease or the diagnosis of a species, genus, or phenomenon |
| Therapeutic | An invention concerned with the treatment, therapy and/or prevention of either an illness or disease | |
| Diagnostic and therapeutic | Inventions that fall in both categories | |
| Invention type | Device | Any device with the intended use within the field of medicine for any medical purpose related to a given disease or illness |
| Method | Any method or process or series of steps for performing a function or accomplishing a medical result | |
| Compound | A chemical substance composed of molecules or molecular entities formed of atoms from more than one element held together by a chemical bond | |
| Vaccine compound | A series of compounds for use in the creation of a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease | |
| Drug compound | Any number of compounds for the creation of a product for medicinal use | |
| Topical medication | Any medication applied to a particular place on or in the body | |
| Applicants’ origin | Brazil | The applicant is (the member of) a Brazilian organization |
| Other | The applicant is from another country |