The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the evolution of new treatment paradigms, and the gravity of unmet need, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as pharmacogenomics, digital therapeutics, and artificial intelligence. In the last three years alone, there have been over 633,000 patents filed and granted in the pharmaceutical industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in Pharmaceuticals: Affinity chromatography for antibodies.  Buy the report here.

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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity. 

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have. 

110 innovations will shape the pharmaceutical industry 

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry using innovation intensity models built on over 756,000 patents, there are 110 innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry. 

Within the emerging innovation stage, DNA polymerase compositions and coronavirus vaccine components, are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Viral vectors, and CRISPR vector are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are antibody modifying drug conjugate and anti-tumour antibodies, which are now well established in the industry. 

Innovation S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry

Affinity chromatography for antibodies is a key innovation area in pharmaceutical 

Antibody purification involves the extraction of selective antibodies from a variety of polyclonal antibodies samples such as serum and monoclonal antibodies samples such as hybridoma cell line. Affinity chromatography is a highly efficient antibody purification technique owing to its precision and quick purification. Chromatographic matrix contains ligand which interacts with the specific region of antibody fragments. Purification of antibody fragments depend upon this ligand-fragment interaction. 

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 70+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of affinity chromatography for antibodies. 

Key players in affinity chromatography for antibodies – a disruptive innovation in the pharmaceutical industry  

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators. 

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’. 

Patent volumes related to affinity chromatography for antibodies

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
F. Hoffmann-La Roche 378 Unlock Company Profile
E. Merck 313 Unlock Company Profile
Sanofi 136 Unlock Company Profile
Danaher 125 Unlock Company Profile
GE Healthcare 124 Unlock Company Profile
AbbVie 101 Unlock Company Profile
Octapharma 73 Unlock Company Profile
GSK 66 Unlock Company Profile
Amgen 53 Unlock Company Profile
Kaneka 52 Unlock Company Profile
General Electric 49 Unlock Company Profile
Bristol-Myers Squibb 46 Unlock Company Profile
Takeda Pharmaceutical 37 Unlock Company Profile
UCB 37 Unlock Company Profile
JSR 36 Unlock Company Profile
Johnson & Johnson 35 Unlock Company Profile
Fujifilm Holdings 35 Unlock Company Profile
Novartis 33 Unlock Company Profile
C. H. Boehringer Sohn 33 Unlock Company Profile
W. L. Gore & Associates 24 Unlock Company Profile
Lundbeck Foundation 24 Unlock Company Profile
Asahi Kasei 24 Unlock Company Profile
LFB 23 Unlock Company Profile
Bio-Rad Laboratories 23 Unlock Company Profile
Green Cross Holdings 21 Unlock Company Profile
Repligen 20 Unlock Company Profile
Tosoh 20 Unlock Company Profile
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries 20 Unlock Company Profile
Glanbia 20 Unlock Company Profile
Nanopareil 20 Unlock Company Profile
UV-Cap 18 Unlock Company Profile
Sartorius 18 Unlock Company Profile
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 17 Unlock Company Profile
Mike-Ann 16 Unlock Company Profile
JNC 16 Unlock Company Profile
Shilpa Medicare 16 Unlock Company Profile
British American Tobacco 15 Unlock Company Profile
Adimab 15 Unlock Company Profile
Xenetic Biosciences 15 Unlock Company Profile
Novo Nordisk Foundation 14 Unlock Company Profile
United Therapeutics 13 Unlock Company Profile
Hanmi Science 13 Unlock Company Profile
Unichem Laboratories 11 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens 11 Unlock Company Profile
Abbott Laboratories 11 Unlock Company Profile
Kashiv BioSciences 11 Unlock Company Profile
Hybio Pharmaceutical 10 Unlock Company Profile
BioRad Laboratories 10 Unlock Company Profile
Hitachi 10 Unlock Company Profile
Amicogen 9 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Merck is a global science and technology company, a completely integrated service organisation that supports CDMO and contract testing across conventional and innovative modalities. The company provides best-in-class products for pharmaceutical development and production, and one of the widest portfolios in the industry for scientists. One of the top three businesses, Merck Millipore, produces protein A, Affinity chromatography resins that are extensively employed in the industrial manufacturing of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in the US. Affinity resins from Merck are exceptionally well suited for large-scale purification and are created for efficient, high throughput purification of monoclonal, polyclonal, and engineered antibodies. Eshmuno A resin, ProSep Ultra Plus resin, ProSep-vA High Capacity resin, and ProSep-vA Ultra resin are a few examples of Merck's resins. 

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Pharmaceutical

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.