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: cell immunomodulation. 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
Cell immunomodulation is a key innovation area in the pharmaceutical industry
Cell immunomodulation refers to the manipulation or regulation of the immune system through the use of various types of cells, such as tolerogenic dendritic cells, cytotoxic T lymphocytes, connective tissue-derived cells, hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and T regulatory cells. These cells can be engineered or modified to induce immune tolerance, prevent rejection of transplanted tissue or graft-versus-host disease, and to treat autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disorders, among others.
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 80+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of cell immunomodulation.
Key players in cell immunomodulation – 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 cell immunomodulation
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical | 143 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sangamo Therapeutics | 101 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pluri | 93 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | 77 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mesoblast | 75 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Athersys | 44 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Johnson & Johnson | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Rubius Therapeutics | 41 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Celularity | 39 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | 36 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Daiichi Sankyo | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| SBI | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| KYORIN | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Selecta Biosciences | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Light Chain Bioscience | 20 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Transimmune | 19 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Hadasit Bio | 18 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Acer Therapeutics | 16 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Smith & Nephew | 15 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Priothera | 15 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Garnet BioTherapeutics | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Compugen | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Orbsen Therapeutics | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ReNeuron Group | 13 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | 13 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Resonac | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Myelin Repair Foundation | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nippon Kayaku | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ImmuneMed | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ImCyse | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novartis | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| PPF Group | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Charles River Laboratories International | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Erasmus MC | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| General Hospital | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| CoImmune | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Spanish National Research Council | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| UK Research and Innovation | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Tocagen | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| VivoscriptInc | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| National Center for Child Health and Development | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nagase & | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| BioNTech | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Medeor Therapeutics | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| CELLnLIFE | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Takeda is one of the leading patent filers in cell immunomodulation. Its pipeline includes various immuno-oncology programs, which harness the innate immunity through innovative cell therapies, immune engager platforms, innate immuno-modulation, novel-scaffold immune check point platforms, and oncolytic viruses.
In terms of application diversity, CELLnLIFE leads the pack, while Hadasit Bio and BioNTech stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Athersys held the top position,followed by Rubius Therapeutics and Mesoblast.
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.
