Anti-Adhesion Barrier Materials Patents: Concentration at the Top, Room at the Edges
61.5% concentration. The top five assignees account for 187 of 304 records in scope — a field where a handful of portfolios set the terms for anyone entering. Filings rose to a peak of 17 records in 2019, then eased; the 2021-to-2024 span — the most recent window complete enough to compare — shows a -20% change (5 records in 2021 versus 4 in 2024). 2025 and 2026 counts will rise as later-filed applications publish.
- 1ANGIOTECH INT AG (CH)57
- 2TEPHA INC42
- 3UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA37
- 4BOARD OF RGT THE UNIV OF TEXAS SYST30
- 5PERGAMUM AB21
See the full anti-adhesion barrier materials analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about anti-adhesion barrier material patents
How concentrated is the anti-adhesion barrier materials patent field?
It is heavily concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees together hold 187 of the 304 records in scope, or 61.5% of the field, and the top 10 extend that to 84.9%. For a new entrant, this means the practical freedom-to-operate question is dominated by a small number of portfolios rather than a broad, fragmented set of small filers.
Is patent filing activity in this space growing or slowing?
Filing peaked at 17 records in 2019 and the most recent complete comparison window, 2021 to 2024, shows a -20% change. However, publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete and should not be read as a genuine drop in R&D activity — they will revise upward as later applications publish.
What technology areas dominate anti-adhesion barrier material patents?
Sterilising and disinfecting technology (IPC class A61L) and medicinal preparations (A61K) each appear in roughly half of the 304 records, reflecting how often barrier film claims are combined with an active drug-elution or sterilisation element. Implants and prostheses (A61F) covers 43.1% of records, while polymer processing and solutions (C08J) is the smallest tracked class at 9.2%, pointing to comparatively less-crowded compositional claim space there.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Anti-Adhesion Barrier Materials covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.