What is Me-too in Life Sciences?

Me-too drugs specifically refer to drugs with their own intellectual property rights, whose efficacy is comparable to that of innovative breakthrough drugs. This kind of new drug research, designed to circumvent the intellectual property protection of "patented" drugs, is mostly carried out with existing drugs as lead compounds. The key aspect of this research is to find similar chemical structures that are not patent-protected. At times, this research may result in drugs with greater bioactivity or pharmacodynamic characteristics than the original "breakthrough" drug. The greatest advantage of the Me-too drug development model is its high success rate, and it requires less funding and R&D capabilities compared to pioneering drugs.