How Policy Think Tanks Use AI Research to Map Pharmaceutical Patent Systems in Minutes
How Policy Think Tanks Use AI Research to Map Pharmaceutical Patent Systems in Minutes
User Profile:
Industry: Public Policy Research & Healthcare Advocacy
Organization Size: Mid-sized policy institute
Team: Policy analysts and healthcare researchers examining global health equity
Feature Used: AI Research + AI Interview
The Challenge
A policy research team needed to understand how pharmaceutical companies use patent extension strategies to delay generic competition—and how this impacts global health access.
Traditional market research would require months of scheduling interviews with pharmaceutical executives, generic manufacturers, patient advocates, healthcare policymakers across multiple countries, and public health experts. Each stakeholder operates in different time zones with conflicting interests, making coordination nearly impossible within reasonable timelines.
The Pain Points:
Time constraints: Policy windows close quickly; waiting 2-3 months for stakeholder interviews means missing critical decision-making moments
Access barriers: Securing interviews with C-suite pharma executives and international policymakers requires extensive networks
Geographic limitations: Capturing perspectives from India, Tanzania, EU, and US markets simultaneously seemed unrealistic
Cost prohibitive: Traditional research for this scope would exceed $50,000+ in interview fees, travel, and analysis
The Atypica Solution
The research team used Atypica.AI to simulate 12 expert interviews across the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem—from innovator pharma R&D heads to Tanzanian pharmacists to NGO leaders—in under 20 minutes.
How It Worked:
AI Research Agent clarified the investigation scope: patent extension mechanisms, stakeholder power dynamics, and policy reform pathways
AI Personas were automatically generated representing diverse perspectives: pharma executives defending IP protection, generic CEOs fighting patent thickets, patient advocates witnessing treatment access barriers
AI Expert Interviews uncovered nuanced insights like pay-for-delay agreements, TRIPS flexibilities pressure, and the “pharmaceutical apartheid” concept
Comprehensive PESTLE analysis and stakeholder power mapping generated automatically
Results: Before vs. After
Traditional ResearchWith Atypica.AI2-3 months coordination20 minutes research$50,000+ budgetCost of a coffee subscription4-6 accessible interviews12 multi-stakeholder perspectivesLimited geographic scopeGlobal coverage (India, Tanzania, US, EU)Surface-level responsesDeep motivations like “choosing between food and medicine”
Impact Achieved
Short-term:
Delivered actionable policy recommendations in time for legislative review cycles
Identified five specific patent manipulation tactics (secondary patenting, patent thickets, pay-for-delay, data exclusivity, product hopping)
Mapped precise stakeholder power dynamics showing why change is difficult
Long-term:
Created a replicable framework for rapid policy analysis across other healthcare issues
Equipped advocacy groups with evidence-based arguments grounded in multi-stakeholder perspectives
Demonstrated that AI research can democratize access to expert insights previously locked behind expensive consulting firms
The Takeaway
Complex policy research doesn’t require months of logistical gymnastics anymore. When you need to understand how and why stakeholders think—not just what they say publicly—AI research captures the depth of human insight at the speed of AI.
Ready to transform your policy research? Explore Atypica.AI’s research capabilities and conduct your first expert stakeholder analysis in minutes.
📄 Read the full pharmaceutical patent analysis report: Access the complete case study