Suggestions for secondary innovations and generic development for drugs from the perspective of patent — taking HIV protease inhibitor lopinavir as an example

Protease inhibitors(PIs)are a class of antiviral drugs widely used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The status of intellectual property of HIV protease inhibitors lopinavir is briefly reviewed in this paper. Based on the indication of Kaletra^® , the follow-up studies and generic development of PIs were discussed. It was concluded that the combination of PIs and anti-bacterial/anti-fungal drugs with CYP450 inhibitory effects would be of great use for AIDS and the infectious complications, in the hope of seeking the secondary innovation of other drugs with expired patents in the fields of drug combination and indication expansion.