Peptides are hard to take by mouth - the gut destroys them - so the inventive frontier for GLP-1 drugs moved to delivery, and US11173124B2, "Oral delivery of GLP-1 peptide analogs," issued November 16, 2021 to MedImmune Limited, claims a species in exactly that frontier.
The genus here is enormous: GLP-1 receptor agonist peptides span dozens of assignees and a long prior-art history. A claim to the peptides themselves would land in the densest part of the metabolic estate. So the claim narrows to the species - the oral-delivery formulation - where the novelty is plausible and the prior art is thinner.
The CPC profile is almost entirely formulation: A61K 9/2846, A61K 9/2013, A61K 9/4808, A61K 9/5026 - tablet, capsule, and enteric-formulation classes - with A61K 38/26 (GLP-1 peptide) as the active. That distribution tells a reader the invention lives in the dosage-form chemistry, not the peptide. Describe the claim by its formulation limitations, not by 'GLP-1.'
The trade-off mirrors every formulation species: narrow scope, but hard to design around for a competitor pursuing the same oral route. A rival's injectable GLP-1 does not read on an oral-delivery claim, but a rival's oral GLP-1 might, depending on whether its enabling formulation falls within the recited components.
Strategically, oral-delivery grants like this one are where the GLP-1 franchise war was quietly extending in 2021. The molecule claims get the attention; the route-of-administration species determine which competitor can match the originator's most convenient dosage form - and that convenience is worth real market share.