The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by the evolution of treatment paradigms, and the gravity of unmet needs, 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 787,000 patents filed and granted in the pharmaceutical industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in pharma: anti-respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines. 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 stabilizing 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.
80+ 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 668,000 patents, there are 80+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, engineered multispecific antibodies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and mutant DNA polymerases are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Phenotypic drug screening, antibody-drug conjugates, and polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are drug delivery nanoparticles and antibody encoding polynucleotide libraries, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry
Anti-RSV vaccines is a key innovation area in the pharmaceutical industry
Anti-RSV vaccines are vaccines that are designed to induce an immune response against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cause of respiratory tract infections in young children and the elderly. These vaccines typically use recombinant adenovirus or parapoxviruses to deliver RSV antigens to the body to stimulate an immune response.
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 110+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of anti-RSV vaccines.
Key players in anti-RSV vaccines – a disruptive innovation in the pharmaceutical industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to anti-RSV vaccines
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| C. H. Boehringer Sohn | 178 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AstraZeneca | 150 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Merck | 125 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Centre National Research Scientific | 106 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Curevac | 75 | Unlock Company Profile |
| US Department of Health and Human Services | 64 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Cevante Animale | 61 | Unlock Company Profile |
| The United States Of America | 54 | Unlock Company Profile |
| GSK | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | 42 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sanofi | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Hookipa Pharma | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pfizer | 27 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Group | 26 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Altimmune | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Intervet | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| CSL | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novartis | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Johnson & Johnson | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Precigen | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Theravectys | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Panacea Biotec | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
| BlueWillow Biologics | 19 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ViroNovative | 19 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AMVAC | 18 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Charles River Laboratories International | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Najit Technologies | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Corteva | 13 | Unlock Company Profile |
| The U.S. government | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Stichting Wageningen Research | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Codagenix | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Zoetis | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ioGenetics | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Emergex Vaccines | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Zydus Lifesciences | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| FDS Pharma | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| aRigen Pharmaceuticals | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Emergent BioSolutions | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Viridos | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ceva Sante Animale | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| International AIDS Vaccine Initiative | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Biomune | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| The Henry M Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Japan Science and Technology Agency | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Profectus BioSciences | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
C. H. Boehringer Sohn is one of the leading patent filers in Anti-RSV vaccines. The company has developed Bovalto Intranasal vaccine, which is being used for the immunization of cattle against the Parainfluenza 3 Virus. It has also filed several patents in this area for the development of a new variety of vaccines.
In terms of application diversity, Theravectys leads the pack, while ViroNovative and ioGenetics stood in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Curevac held the top position, followed by GSK and Theravectys.
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.
