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Intellectual Property and Patents at the Paris Brain Institute

Protecting discoveries to better turn them into innovations

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For a scientific discovery to become an innovation, it must be protected and developed so that it can subsequently be made available to patients. This is the very essence of intellectual property, which forms a vital part of the Paris Brain Institute’s innovation strategy.

A patent protects an invention and sets the stage for its use: industrial development, licensing, or even the creation of start-ups. Without adequate protection, a discovery is unlikely to reach the patient.

Protecting a discovery requires taking action at the right time. Publishing or disclosing research findings too early can jeopardise their patentability. The Paris Brain Institute therefore carries out significant awareness-raising work amongst researchers to reconcile the imperatives of research – sharing knowledge and publishing results – with those of commercialisation.

This initiative has been further strengthened since 2025 with the appointment of a patent engineer, Omar El Kalamouni, to the Innovation Department. His role is to support researchers in protecting their discoveries by working closely with them and responding promptly to provide better advice on potential commercialisation pathways and the protection strategy to be implemented.

“In 2025, the Institute reached a strategic milestone: regaining control of its patents in order to better turn its discoveries into innovation.”

Omar El Kalamouni
Patent Engineer

A portfolio dedicated to innovation

This strategy is part of a process that has been developing since the Institute’s creation. The Paris Brain Institute is now co-owner of 116 patent families. Over the last five years, 28 priority applications have been filed by the Institute.

Today, its active portfolio includes 27 patent families, including 16 licensed or intended for start-ups arising from the work of the Institute’s researchers, which are currently supported by the start-up studio NeurAL.

One example is CicaNeuro, a company founded on the basis of work carried out by researchers at the Paris Brain Institute. The project aims to transform antibiotic-derived compounds into neuroprotective molecules, in particular to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease. The first molecules resulting from this research have shown promising effects in experimental models. CicaNeuro will utilise three families of patents held by the Paris Brain Institute that protect these molecules.

 

Protecting discoveries thus gives researchers the means to take their work through the stages that separate a laboratory discovery from a potential application for the benefit of patients.

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