March 2004
Can Wrigley "Double Your Pleasure" with "Viagra" chewing gum?
Chewing gum manufacturers Wrigley have been granted a patent in America for combining gum with sildenafil citrate. This may not sound like earth shattering news until you're told that sildenafil citrate is more commonly known and marketed by pharmaceutical giants Pfizer as Viagra. The patent application was filed in November 2000 and has recently been granted.
Yes, the plan is that instead of swallowing a pesky little blue tablet, men will be able to chew their way to speedier and more effective "results".
Wrigley's have been keen to quell the media interest that has arisen from the news by pointing out that there is a wealth of difference between filing a patent and actually bringing a product to market. Indeed there would be plenty of restriction upon them producing and selling the gum which would be likely to need a prescription. Wrigley have not marketed any health related products before and are clearly aware of the vast amount of research and development that would go into bringing such a product to market.
Furthermore, the patent obtained by Pfizer for the original Viagra product is still valid and will protect the invention until 2011 so Wrigley could not proceed with furthering the invention until this time.
BRIFFA Comment:
This is a good example of a company pre-empting the flow of related inventions that will be likely to appear once a protected patent expires. Upon expiry the information granted monopoly protection in the form of a patent will be available for the use of the general public however Wrigley have now guaranteed that no one else will be able to market the Viagra drug in a chewable gum form, at least not without starting a patent dispute.
By filing the patent now rather than when the Pfizer Viagra patent expires Wrigley's are accepting that they will lose several years of monopoly time in which to get ahead of competitors but are at least ensuring that they will be the ones to have the first chance to market the product.