The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by the evolution of new 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: knock-in type transgenic animalsBuy the report here.

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

Knock-in transgenics is a key innovation area in the pharmaceutical industry

Knock-in mice are genetically modified mouse models in which a gene sequence is inserted at a particular locus to understand the impact of the inactivation of a particularly targeted gene function. Constitutive knock-in, humanization knock-in, reporter/tag knock-in, and targeted transgenics are a few examples of different knock-in types that use the Rosa26 locus, which offers complete control of the gene expression. Scientists often use embryonic stem cells to insert entirely new genes into specific locations in the genome.

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 270+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of knock-in transgenicse.

Key players in knock-in transgenics – a key innovation area 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 knock-in transgenics

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals 3231 Unlock Company Profile
Sanofi 428 Unlock Company Profile
Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) 204 Unlock Company Profile
Ligand Pharmaceuticals 175 Unlock Company Profile
F. Hoffmann-La Roche 156 Unlock Company Profile
Recombinetics 123 Unlock Company Profile
Deerfield Management 101 Unlock Company Profile
Bristol-Myers Squibb 96 Unlock Company Profile
United Therapeutics 77 Unlock Company Profile
Merus 73 Unlock Company Profile
Synageva BioPharma 68 Unlock Company Profile
Spectrum Brands 67 Unlock Company Profile
Erasmus MC 57 Unlock Company Profile
Amgen 48 Unlock Company Profile
Kirin 46 Unlock Company Profile
Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories 45 Unlock Company Profile
Biogen 44 Unlock Company Profile
AstraZeneca 42 Unlock Company Profile
AbCellera Biologics 40 Unlock Company Profile
Baxter International 36 Unlock Company Profile
E. Merck 35 Unlock Company Profile
Crescendo Biologics 35 Unlock Company Profile
AgGenetics 33 Unlock Company Profile
ImmunoGen 31 Unlock Company Profile
LFB 31 Unlock Company Profile
Children's Medical Center 26 Unlock Company Profile
UK Research and Innovation 24 Unlock Company Profile
Cellectis 24 Unlock Company Profile
Teijin 24 Unlock Company Profile
Takeda Pharmaceutical 22 Unlock Company Profile
Government of South Korea 22 Unlock Company Profile
ITI Scotland 22 Unlock Company Profile
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres 21 Unlock Company Profile
Vivoryon Therapeutics 20 Unlock Company Profile
Precigen 20 Unlock Company Profile
Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals 19 Unlock Company Profile
Cho-A Pharm 19 Unlock Company Profile
Verneuil Participations 18 Unlock Company Profile
Wellcome Trust 18 Unlock Company Profile
SAB 17 Unlock Company Profile
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 17 Unlock Company Profile
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 17 Unlock Company Profile
AquaBounty Technologies 16 Unlock Company Profile
Japan Science and Technology Agency 16 Unlock Company Profile
Sangamo Therapeutics 15 Unlock Company Profile
Cedars-Sinai Health System 15 Unlock Company Profile
Aviagen 15 Unlock Company Profile
PhoenixBio 14 Unlock Company Profile
Pharming Group 14 Unlock Company Profile
GC 13 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is the leading patent filer for knock-in transgenics. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has a market cap of more than $80bn and is primarily focused on cancer, allergic and inflammatory diseases, eye diseases, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, neuromuscular diseases, and rare diseases. Regeneron has created the VelociSuite of Technologies, comprising VelociGene, VelociMouse, VelocImmune and VelociMab. Together, these technologies increase the efficiency and decrease the time involved in the discovery and generation of drug candidates. The company’s VelociMouse technology enables the immediate generation of genetically altered mice directly from modified embryonic stem cells.

In terms of application diversity, Teijin is the top company, followed by Vivoryon Therapeutics and Biogen. By means of geographic reach, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals holds the top position. Deerfield Management and Merus stand in 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.