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: cancer combination therapy. 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 multi-specific 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
Cancer combination therapy is a key innovation area in the pharmaceutical industry
Cancer combination therapy refers to the use of multiple drugs or treatment modalities in combination to increase the efficacy of cancer treatment and improve patient outcomes. This may involve the use of different drug classes or therapies that target different aspects of cancer cells, such as angiogenesis inhibitors, chemotherapy agents, and immunotherapies.
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 1020+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of cancer combination therapy.
Key players in cancer combination therapy – 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 cancer combination therapy
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche | 3537 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | 941 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Amgen | 731 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Johnson & Johnson | 585 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mereo BioPharma 5 | 442 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AstraZeneca | 407 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Eli Lilly | 404 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novartis | 398 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Merck | 391 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pfizer | 381 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Otsuka | 363 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Daiichi Sankyo | 350 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Gilead Sciences | 338 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals | 331 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals | 269 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AbbVie | 266 | Unlock Company Profile |
| C. H. Boehringer Sohn | 252 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pierre Fabre Foundation | 243 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Astellas Pharma | 237 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sanofi | 226 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ImmunoGen | 216 | Unlock Company Profile |
| GSK | 212 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mayo Clinic | 202 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ganymed Pharmaceuticals | 195 | Unlock Company Profile |
| MacroGenics | 186 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Eisai | 177 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Immatics | 172 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Merrimack Pharmaceuticals | 171 | Unlock Company Profile |
| NantWorks | 160 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 149 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | 148 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Immutep | 140 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ipsen | 132 | Unlock Company Profile |
| MorphoSys | 129 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ono Pharmaceutical | 127 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pharma Mar | 125 | Unlock Company Profile |
| BioNTech | 124 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical | 119 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Cancer Research UK | 116 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Seagen | 104 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Zymeworks | 96 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | 96 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Seven and Eight Biopharmaceuticals | 94 | Unlock Company Profile |
| E. Merck | 90 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Les Laboratoires Servier | 89 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Celldex Therapeutics | 87 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ADC Therapeutics | 86 | Unlock Company Profile |
| TRON | 81 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Infinity Pharmaceuticals | 77 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bayer Pharma (Bayer Schering Pharma) | 76 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
F. Hoffmann-La Roche is one of the leading patent filers in cancer combination therapy. The company is conducting various combination therapy studies particularly in the field of cancer. Atezolizumab is one such drug where multiple combination therapy studies are being carried out to identify potential treatments for cancer.
In terms of application diversity, Mereo BioPharma 5 leads the pack, while MacroGenics and Zymeworks stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Immatics held the top position, followed by Immutep and ImmunoGen.
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.
