Patents as an (un)necessary source of information for Biotechnology in Health

Abstract Biotechnology, particularly in the health sector, has created solutions and opportunities for society in general, contributing to important scientific developments. However, rapid research achievements produce an intense amount of data in different formats, published in different media, and sometimes not adequately used by the scientific community. Patents have been regarded as an exceptional source of scientific and technological information, but how they have been utilized is unknown. The aim of this study was to analyze how the scientific community uses patent documents in academic work. In order to understand that, 556 thesis/dissertations from graduate programs of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation were analyzed, of which only 2.87% of academic thesis/dissertations cited at least one patent document. Clearly, it was observed that the scientific community does not appreciate patents as a source of scientific knowledge. Failure to address this huge volume of information implies, especially for Brazil, that investment in research, development and innovation goes to waste when patent literature is neglected, which results in repeated investigations and consequently, a delay in the scientific and technological development of the country. Thus, the results point out to the need to encourage the use of patents as they are an important source of information for biotechnology in health.