What US patent applications cover vinblastine/vindoline (and how Google Patents indexes them)
Searching Google Patents for “vinblastine vindoline” typically pulls up filings tied to both:
- Vinblastine and vincristine-type chemistry (often grouped as vinca alkaloids), and
- Vindoline starting materials or intermediate-process improvements that support vinblastine production.
The US records you’ll see in Google Patents can include applications that use different spellings (for example, “vindoline” vs “vindolin,” or specific chemical names for intermediates), so a good approach is to search variants and then filter by the US jurisdiction.
What to look for in US filings: active ingredient vs manufacturing/process
US applications involving these terms usually fall into two broad categories:
- Compound/derivative claims (methods of making specific alkaloids or analogs).
- Manufacturing process claims (how to convert vindoline or related intermediates into vinblastine, improve yields, purification, stereochemical control, or scale-up).
If your goal is “the vinblastine patent application” (a specific application number), Google Patents is the place to confirm the exact US publication and assignee for the search terms you use. Without the assignee, publication number, or a specific patent family link, it’s not possible to point to one single, definitive US application record.
How to narrow your Google Patents search to the right “US publication”
To find the correct US application(s) in Google Patents, use a strategy like:
- Search exact terms: vinblastine vindoline
- Add jurisdiction filters after results load (United States).
- Use citation chaining by clicking a relevant record and following “Cited by” / “Citations” to find related family members and process variants.
This helps you quickly distinguish between:
- Patents that mention vindoline only as a precursor in the background, versus
- Patents that claim a method or composition involving vindoline-to-vinblastine conversion.
Are there still active vinblastine/vindoline exclusivities in the US?
Older oncology small-molecule patents and processes often expire decades after their priority dates, so many vinca alkaloid-related patents may now be outside active exclusivity windows. If you’re looking for “current” patent protection, DrugPatentWatch.com is a useful way to check whether any listed US patents or exclusivity periods are still relevant for vinblastine products, including method/process families tied to manufacturing. You can start there: https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/ [1]
If you meant a specific US application/publication number, tell me this and I’ll pinpoint it
To return the exact US patent application (publication number, assignee, filing date, and the claim focus), share one of the following:
- The assignee/company name you saw
- Any US publication number (e.g., US20xx/xxxxx) or patent number
- A Google Patents link or screenshot of the search result
Then I can identify the precise Google Patents entry and summarize what it claims (compound vs process, vindoline role, and what’s being protected).
Source
[1] https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/