Anti-Adhesion Barrier Materials Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
- 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.
- Filing has cooled from its 2019 peak. Volume hit 17 records in 2019; the 2021–2024 window shows a -20% shift, and 2025-2026 figures are still filling in as publication catches up.
- Sterilising and medicinal-preparation classes dominate. A61L and A61K each cover roughly half of all 304 records, while polymer processing (C08J) sits under 10% — a narrower, less-crowded claim path.
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (4) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 304 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the anti-adhesion barrier materials patent record shows
Anti-adhesion barrier materials sit at the intersection of surgical device engineering and drug-eluting biomaterials: films, gels and coatings designed to keep tissue surfaces from fusing during healing after laparoscopic or open surgery. The dataset behind this page spans 304 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, captured through claims and descriptions referencing adhesion barriers, anti-scarring films, hyaluronic acid barrier chemistries and related delivery and degradation properties.
The record set is dominated by a small group of long-standing portfolios built around polymer compositions and anti-scarring drug combinations, alongside a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years understate real filing activity and should be read as provisional rather than as evidence of a slowdown.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 304-record set: filing activity by year, and the IPC subclasses those records fall under. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the subclass shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
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.
IPC subclass composition
A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) and A61K (medicinal preparations) each touch roughly half of the 304 records, reflecting how often barrier claims are paired with a drug-elution or sterilisation mechanism. A61F (implants and prostheses) is close behind at 43.1%, while C08J (polymer processing and solutions) covers just 9.2% — the smallest of the tracked classes and a narrower lane for new compositional claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 304 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Anti-Adhesion Barrier Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about anti-adhesion barrier materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US20070208134A1 — Anti-scarring drug combinations and use thereof
The present invention provides devices or implants that comprise anti-scarring drug combinations, methods or making such devices or implants, and methods of inhibiting fibrosis between the devices or implants and tissue surrounding the devices or implants. The present invention also provides compositions that comprise anti-fibrotic drug combinations, and their uses in various medical applications including the prevention of surgical adhesions, treatment of inflammatory arthritis, treatment of scars and keloids, the treatment of vascular disease, and the prevention of cartilage loss.Filed by Hunter, William — one of the most co-filed inventors in this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20060147492A1 | Medical implants and anti-scarring agents | 480 |
| 2 | US20050143817A1 | Medical implants and anti-scarring agents | 396 |
| 3 | US20050208095A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 391 |
| 4 | US20050175703A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 376 |
| 5 | US20050175665A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 352 |
| 6 | US20070299043A1 | Anti-scarring drug combinations and use thereof | 292 |
| 7 | US20060040894A1 | Compositions and methods using hyaluronic acid | 282 |
| 8 | US20050196421A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 252 |
| 9 | US20050181977A1 | Medical implants and anti-scarring agents | 251 |
| 10 | US20070208134A1 | Anti-scarring drug combinations and use thereof | 229 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns in the dataset matter more than the raw counts: where filings cluster, how citation weight is distributed, and how tightly a small inventor group holds the core compositions.
The field is not open at the top
Five assignees account for 187 of the 304 records in scope. That level of concentration means a new entrant's freedom-to-operate analysis has to start with a small set of portfolios, not a broad field of small filers.
Influence sits with early polymer-composition filings
The most-cited records in this dataset are early filings on medical implants, anti-scarring agents and polymer compositions. Their citation counts reflect age and foundational status within the corpus more than current commercial weight.
A tight core group anchors the leading portfolios
The strongest co-assignee pairs in the dataset — all built around the same three names — each share 21 records. That density suggests a compact original inventing team behind much of the top-5 concentration, rather than several independent groups converging on the same chemistry.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to anti-adhesion barrier materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it thins out
The ranked list covers 84 companies, counted by record — not a top-50 or top-100 cut, but the full set the data endpoint returns. Leadership concentrates fast, then trails into single-filing entrants.
One portfolio well ahead of the field
The leading assignee's record count is more than double that of the fifth-placed entrant (21), and more than four times the tenth (13) — a steep drop-off rather than a gradual one.
The drop from top 5 to top 10 is real but narrower
Top 10 assignees together hold 84.9% of all 304 records, only 23.4 points above the top-5 share — meaning places six through ten add relatively little new ground compared with the leap from a single leader to five.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the board
Even the most active assignees in the dataset show minimal or zero filings in the latest tracked year, including one legacy leader down -100% year-on-year. This is consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine stop in R&D.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Tepha, Inc. | 1 | — |
| ANGIOTECH INT AG (CH) | 0 | — |
| University of Southern California | 0 | — |
| Board of Regents, The University of Texas System | 0 | -100% |
| MAITI ARPITA | 0 | — |
| TOLEIKIS PHILIP | 0 | — |
| HUNTER WILLIAM | 0 | — |
| GRAVETT DAVID | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated core and several under-filed edges. Two natural next steps for a team evaluating this space.
Run freedom-to-operate against the top 5
With 61.5% of records held by five assignees, any new barrier-film or drug-combination composition should be checked against those portfolios first, not the full 84-assignee list.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claim language in the under-claimed branches
Delivery mechanism and degradation-byproduct claims show thinner density than the core polymer-composition space, suggesting more room for a defensible first claim.
Draft and search claims in EurekaCommon questions about anti-adhesion barrier material patents
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.
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.
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.
The ranking covers 84 assignees counted by patent family, led by a single company holding 57 records — more than double the fifth-placed assignee's 21. Several of the top names share a tight inventor network, with the strongest co-assignee pairs each appearing on 21 shared records, suggesting a compact core group of inventors behind much of the top-tier portfolio activity.
The thinner-covered branches sit around delivery mechanics and material behaviour rather than the core barrier-film composition itself: laparoscopic delivery mechanisms, barrier residence time tuning, degradation byproduct control, and application-ease delivery devices show less density than the dominant polymer-composition and drug-combination claims. These are the areas worth prioritising in prior-art search before drafting a new claim, since the core chemistry space is already well occupied by the leading portfolios.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.