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: Flavivirus vaccine components.
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, cell therapy for ocular disorders, coronavirus vaccine components, and DNA polymerase compositions are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Adeno-associated virus vectors, alcohol dehydrogenase compositions, and antibody serum stabilisers are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are anti-influenza antibody compositions and anti-interleukin-1, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry
Flavivirus vaccine components is a key innovation area in pharmaceuticals
The genus flavivirus includes several pathogens such as dengue, Zika, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and yellow fever virus. The structural proteins include the capsid, pre-membrane/membrane proteins and envelope (E) proteins. The non-structural proteins NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B and NS5 are involved in viral RNA replication and dampening of the host innate 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 50 companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of flavivirus vaccine components.
Key players in flavivirus vaccine components – 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 flavivirus vaccine components
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2021) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Sanofi | 185 | Unlock company profile |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical | 184 | Unlock company profile |
| Merck & Co | 92 | Unlock company profile |
| US Department of Health and Human Services | 61 | Unlock company profile |
| Inovio Pharmaceuticals | 57 | Unlock company profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 50 | Unlock company profile |
| VLP Therapeutics | 49 | Unlock company profile |
| Valneva | 46 | Unlock company profile |
| Curevac | 43 | Unlock company profile |
| Oswaldo Cruz Foundation | 40 | Unlock company profile |
| Academia Sinica | 40 | Unlock company profile |
| Medigen | 28 | Unlock company profile |
| United States Of America | 25 | Unlock company profile |
| C. H. Boehringer Sohn | 25 | Unlock company profile |
| Codagenix | 24 | Unlock company profile |
| Bharat Biotech | 21 | Unlock company profile |
| United Nations Industrial Development Organization | 21 | Unlock company profile |
| U.S. Department of Defense | 21 | Unlock company profile |
| Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical | 18 | Unlock company profile |
| Nitto Denko | 17 | Unlock company profile |
| Moderna | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| Institut Pasteur | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| British American Tobacco | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Meiji Holdings | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Trustee for Horizon | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| GE Healthcare | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Zoetis | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Najit Technologies | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Kaketsuken | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| TenGen Biomedical | 12 | Unlock company profile |
| Panacea Biotec | 12 | Unlock company profile |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| GSK | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Stabilitech | 10 | Unlock company profile |
| US Government | 10 | Unlock company profile |
| Universidad El Bosque | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| Trustee For Rope Pro Unit Trust | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| Research and Development Foundation | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| FDS Pharma LLP | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| iSD Immunotech | 7 | Unlock company profile |
| CareGroup | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| American Type Culture Collection | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| Guangzhou Realbenefitspot Pharmaceutical | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| MiCAN Technologies | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| United States Army Reserve | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| Integrated Research Associates | 5 | Unlock company profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Sanofi is one of the leading patent filers for Flavivirus vaccine components. The company is involved in developing several vaccines for yellow fever, Japanese Encephalitis, Flavivirus Tick-borne encephalitis, and dengue fever. The company is also working on vaccine compositions comprising one or more flaviviruses vaccine components.
In terms of application diversity, CareGroup is the top company, followed by Bharat Biotech and Curevac. By means of geographic reach, Zoetis holds the top position, while F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Bharat Biotech are in the second and third positions, respectively.
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.
