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 Covid-19 in pharma: synthetic COVID vaccines. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 668,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the pharmaceutical industry, there are 80+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Synthetic COVID vaccines is a key innovation area in Covid-19 therapy
Synthetic COVID vaccines refer to vaccines that are designed and produced using synthetic biology techniques, rather than traditional methods of vaccine production. A synthetic vaccine mainly consists of synthetic peptides, carbohydrates, or antigens for COVID. They are usually considered to be safer than vaccines from bacterial cultures. Creating vaccines synthetically can increase the speed of production.
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 530+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of synthetic COVID vaccines.
Key players in synthetic COVID vaccines – 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 synthetic COVID vaccines
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Johnson & Johnson | 568 | Unlock Company Profile |
| GSK | 529 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sanofi | 317 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Group | 296 | Unlock Company Profile |
| C. H. Boehringer Sohn | 288 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AstraZeneca | 229 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novavax | 224 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Merck | 198 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 155 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals | 154 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pfizer | 131 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical | 119 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Curevac | 116 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bavarian Nordic | 95 | Unlock Company Profile |
| FluGen | 95 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Autoimmune Technologies | 82 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Inovio Pharmaceuticals | 75 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Novartis | 72 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Altimmune | 72 | Unlock Company Profile |
| US Department of Health and Human Services | 71 | Unlock Company Profile |
| FDS Pharma | 66 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Zoetis | 65 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Valneva | 63 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Moderna | 58 | Unlock Company Profile |
| SEEK Group | 58 | Unlock Company Profile |
| The Administrators of The Tulane Educational Fund | 55 | Unlock Company Profile |
| St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital | 55 | Unlock Company Profile |
| CSL | 54 | Unlock Company Profile |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche | 50 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Oswaldo Cruz Foundation | 50 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Compagnie Merieux Alliance | 47 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Academia Sinica | 45 | Unlock Company Profile |
| VLP Therapeutics | 44 | Unlock Company Profile |
| European Molecular Biology Laboratory | 43 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Precigen | 40 | Unlock Company Profile |
| TheVax Genetics Vaccine | 40 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung | 39 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fastilium Property Group | 39 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bio-Rad Laboratories | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Theraclone Sciences | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| EpiVax | 37 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Mayo Clinic | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Gilead Sciences | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| The United States Of America | 35 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Xiamen Innovax Biotech | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| PerkinElmer | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Solon Eiendom | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics | 32 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Grifols | 32 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Abbott Laboratories | 30 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is one of the leading patent filers in synthetic COVID vaccines. J&J researches, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and consumer products. The company provides pharmaceuticals for immune diseases, cancer, neurological disorders, infectious such as Covid-19, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases. Jcovden is an approved synthetic vaccine, which was developed by Johnson & Johnson. GSK and Sanofi are some of the other key patent filers in synthetic COVID vaccines.
In terms of application diversity, Curevac leads the pack, while EpiVax and Valneva stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, SEEK Group held the top position, followed by Autoimmune Technologies and TheVax Genetics Vaccine.
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.
