strategy, our goal is to retain oversight over the worldwide development and commercialization of our products by playing an active role in their commercialization or finding partners who share our vision, values, culture and processes.
To date, we have established a high-quality commercial organization dedicated to bringing innovative, highly-valued GI healthcare solutions to our customers, including patients, payors, and healthcare providers. Our GI commercial capabilities, including marketing, patient engagement and sales, are designed to support our existing product as well as potential future internally and externally developed products.
We are also coordinating efforts with our linaclotide partners to launch and maintain an integrated, global linaclotide brand. By leveraging the knowledge base and expertise of our experienced commercial team and the insights of each of our linaclotide commercialization partners, we continually improve our collective marketing strategies.
Patents and Proprietary Rights
We actively seek to protect the proprietary technology that we consider important to our business, including pursuing patents that cover our products, compositions, and formulations, their methods of use and the processes for their manufacture, as well as any other relevant inventions and improvements that are commercially important to the development of our business. We also rely on trade secrets that may be important to the development of our business.
Our success will depend significantly on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for the technology, inventions and improvements we consider important to our business; defend our patents; preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets; and operate without infringing the patents and proprietary rights of third parties.
The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term of the patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries in which we file, the patent term is 20 years from the date of filing the non-provisional application. We expect to apply, and have applied, for patent term extension in countries where it is available.
Linaclotide Patent Portfolio
Our linaclotide patent portfolio is currently composed of 14 patents in the U.S., including 12 U.S. patents listed in the U.S. FDA publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations”, or the Orange Book, seven granted European patents, most of which have been validated in available European countries, ten granted Japanese patents, five granted Chinese patents, 61 issued patents in other foreign jurisdictions, and numerous pending U.S., foreign and Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT, patent applications. We own or jointly own all of the issued patents and pending applications.
The issued U.S. patents, which will expire between 2024 and 2033, contain claims directed to the linaclotide molecule, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, methods of using linaclotide to treat GI disorders, processes for making the molecule, and room temperature stable formulations of linaclotide and methods of use thereof. The 72 mcg, 145 mcg and 290 mcg LINZESS doses are covered by various composition of matter patents in the U.S., the latest of which expires in 2026. In addition, the commercial formulations of the 72 mcg, 145 mcg and 290 mcg LINZESS doses are covered by patents in the U.S. that expire in the early 2030s. The granted European patents, which will expire between 2024 and 2036, some of which are subject to potential patent term extension, contain claims directed to the linaclotide molecule, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, uses of linaclotide to prepare medicaments for treating GI disorders, and room temperature stable formulations of linaclotide and their use in treating IBS-C and chronic constipation. The granted Chinese patents, which will expire between 2024 and 2032, the granted Japanese patents, which will expire between 2025 and 2036, some of which are subject to granted and potential patent term extension, and the granted patents in other foreign jurisdictions, which will expire between 2024 and 2034, some of which may be subject to potential patent term extension, contain claims directed to the linaclotide molecule, pharmaceutical compositions of linaclotide for use in treating GI disorders, and room temperature stable formulations of linaclotide.
We have pending patent applications in certain countries worldwide that, if issued, will expire between 2024 and 2037 and which include claims covering the linaclotide molecule, methods of using linaclotide to treat GI disorders, the current commercial formulations of linaclotide and uses thereof to treat GI disorders.