Patents amoxicillin

Dr. David Johnson (1975-1982). Of all my senior managers, Dave Johnson was the one who knew most about organic chemistry and synthesis. He was a hard-driving chemist with a nose for practical solutions to process development problems. Being a student of Professor John Sheehan, his knowledge of (3-lactam chemistry was extensive. Indeed he was called on to represent Bristol-Myers in its many patent battles with Beecham in which Bristol-Myers staked out its own patent position covering ampicillin and amoxicillin trihydrates.8... 

Companies working on the same core molecule build patent franchises to protect their positions, often designing around the patent positions of competitors. One such situation arose when Beecham saw Bristol-Myers enter the Japanese Amoxicillin market. Beecham s belief was that Bristol-Myers was using its patented process for the manufacture of Amoxicillin (Scheme 5). 

In reaching its decision to launch Amoxicillin on the Japanese market, Bristol-Myers had recognized the need to design around the Beecham patent and identify and develop a process which would be competitive. 

Amoxicillin is used as the trihydrate in oral products and as the sodium salt in parenteral products. Many other salts that are not used clinically have been described, mainly in the patent literature. 

---