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: modified nucleotide therapies. 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
Modified nucleotide therapies is a key innovation area in the pharmaceutical industry
Modified oligonucleotides-based therapies involve the use of chemically-modified RNAi constructs, antisense compounds, and siRNA to target and inhibit the expression of specific genes associated with various diseases. These therapies utilize specific patterns of modified nucleotides to improve in vivo stability and efficacy. They can be administered through pharmaceutical compositions to treat liver diseases, fibrosis, hyperprolific disorders, cancers, and diseases resulting from abnormal gene expression.
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 170+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of modified nucleotide therapies.
Key players in modified nucleotide therapies – 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 modified nucleotide therapies
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Ionis Pharmaceuticals | 1479 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals | 809 | Unlock Company Profile |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche | 349 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nippon Shinyaku | 223 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sanofi | 220 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals | 217 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novo Nordisk Foundation | 149 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ProQR Therapeutics | 144 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pfizer | 129 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Wave Life Sciences | 120 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | 110 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Regulus Therapeutics | 103 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Biogen | 93 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nogra Two | 91 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Avidity Biosciences | 89 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Arbutus Biopharma | 75 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sarepta Therapeutics | 73 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Daiichi Sankyo | 69 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bio-Path | 69 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novartis | 68 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Johnson & Johnson | 65 | Unlock Company Profile |
| OPKO Health | 65 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 61 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Antisense Therapeutics | 61 | Unlock Company Profile |
| National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry | 58 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Stoke Therapeutics | 56 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Amgen | 48 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Neurovision Pharma | 46 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Silence Therapeutics | 44 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Exicure | 39 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Secarna Pharmaceuticals | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| GSK | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| IVERIC bio | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Dynavax Technologies | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Group | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| General Hospital | 32 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | 30 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Aligos Therapeutics | 28 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Biomarin Technologies | 27 | Unlock Company Profile |
| OPKO CURNA | 27 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Phio Pharmaceuticals | 26 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Codiak BioSciences | 25 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Dyne Therapeutics | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nitto Denko | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Triplet Therapeutics | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pharma Mar | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| InDex Pharmaceuticals | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| NEW HOPE, CITY OF | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Intellia Therapeutics | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Ionis Pharmaceuticals is one of the leading patent filers in modified nucleotide therapies. The company has approximately 50 drugs, which are modified nucleotide therapies. The lead assets are inotersen, volanesorsen, donidalorsen, and eplontersen, among others, with major focus on central nervous system (CNS) and genetic disorders.
In terms of application diversity, Opko CURNA leads the pack, while NeuroVision Pharma and Pfizer stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Nippon Shinyaku held the top position, followed by NeuroVision Pharma and Arbutus Biopharma.
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.
