Antifungal Drug Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 16 records and has fallen since, with the 2022 midpoint at just 2 filings — a flat-to-declining trend, not a growing field.
- One assignee leads with 9 records and the top 5 together account for 76.7% of all 43 records in scope, so most of the field's claim space sits with a small group.
- Therapeutic-activity claims (A61P) cover 62.8% of records while nanotechnology delivery (B82Y) and cosmetic-use formulations (A61Q) sit at single-digit shares — a sign of where filing has not yet concentrated.
What this patent set covers
This landscape draws on 43 published records filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine antifungal drug or agent claims with technical criteria such as selectivity over human enzymes, activity against resistant Candida and Aspergillus, tissue penetration, CYP-mediated drug-drug interaction, or novel target discovery. The scope is narrow by design: it is not all antifungal patents, but the subset where inventors make an explicit technical claim about resistance, selectivity, or a new mechanism.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in any trend line understate real filing activity for those years. The IPC composition below uses records, not families, as the denominator, and a single record can carry more than one class.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The trend line and IPC breakdown below are built from the same 43-record scope described above, with shares calculated against that total.
A field that peaked and pulled back
Filings rose to 12 in 2017 and reached their peak of 16 in 2021, then dropped sharply — the 2022 midpoint of 2 records marks a clear inflection. Read the final one or two years cautiously given publication lag; the underlying signal is a plateau, not sustained growth.
Where the claims sit
Every record in scope carries an A61K medicinal-preparation classification, and 62.8% also carry A61P therapeutic-activity codes — the two anchor classes for this field. Devices for body fluids (A61M), cosmetic use (A61Q) and heterocyclic compound chemistry (C07D) each sit at 7.0%, and nanotechnology applications (B82Y) at 4.7%, marking the branches with the least claim density.
Shares are the percentage of the 43 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Antifungal Drug Development with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about antifungal drug development and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
Use of compounds in the treatment of fungal infections
Described herein is the use of compound 1, an antifungal agent with a novel mechanism of action, in the treatment of fungal infections.Filed by Basilea Pharmaceutica International AG, Allschwil — published 2023-03-30 as US20230102036A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2017216722A2 | Synergistic antifungal compositions and methods thereof | 43 |
| 2 | US20190142800A1 | Synergistic antifungal compositions and methods thereof | 36 |
| 3 | US20160206567A1 | Antifungal topical composition and methods of treatment | 18 |
| 4 | JP1983032818A | Remedy for nail mycotic infection | 8 |
| 5 | GB2595513A | Treatment of infections | 5 |
| 6 | WO2021178406A1 | Use of compounds in the treatment of fungal infections | 3 |
| 7 | US20170273924A1 | Valproate as a topical Anti-fungal treatment | 3 |
| 8 | US20230102036A1 | Use of compounds in the treatment of fungal infections | 1 |
| 9 | AU2017283785A1 | Synergistic antifungal compositions and methods thereof | 1 |
| 10 | US10092531B2 | Valproate as a topical anti-fungal treatment | 1 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the IPC composition are read together.
Claim space is already occupied at the top
With the leader alone holding 9 records and the top 5 combined accounting for 76.7% of the 43 records in scope, a new entrant filing broad composition or mechanism claims is filing against dense prior art from a handful of repeat filers.
The field has plateaued, not accelerated
Filing activity rose through the late 2010s, peaked in 2021, and fell to 2 records by the 2022 midpoint. None of the tracked leading assignees show filings in the latest year, which is consistent with a maturing rather than expanding claim landscape.
Delivery and formulation branches are thinner
Nanotechnology-based delivery (B82Y, 4.7%) and cosmetic-use formulations (A61Q, 7.0%) sit well below the core medicinal-preparation and therapeutic-activity classes, suggesting these adjacent branches carry fewer claims relative to the core small-molecule and topical composition art.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to antifungal drug development, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Amplyx Pharmaceuticals Inc | Basilea Pharmaceutica International AG, Allschwil | 2 |
The strongest co-assignee pairing in this dataset appears twice, which points to mostly independent, single-assignee filing rather than joint development programmes.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders here cover 12 companies across the 43 records in scope — a small, identifiable set rather than a broad field of filers.
One filer holds the largest single share
The leading assignee's 9 records is the largest individual share in a ranking of 12 companies, and combined with the next four filers accounts for the bulk of the top-5 concentration figure.
Most of the ranking is thin
Beyond the leading names, filing volume drops quickly — the tenth-ranked assignee holds just 1 record, indicating a long tail of entrants with a single filing rather than sustained programmes.
Filing is spread across several jurisdictions
The United States leads with 12 filings, followed by Europe and India at 5 each, with Australia, Japan and the Philippines each below that — evidence that protection strategies in this field are not concentrated in a single office.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Amplyx Pharmaceuticals Inc | 0 | — |
| Vyome Therapeutics Ltd | 0 | — |
| Basilea Pharmaceutica International AG, Allschwil | 0 | -100% |
| Wayne State University | 0 | — |
| Blueberry Therapeutics | 0 | — |
| Pfizer | 0 | — |
| Vyome Biosciences Ltd | 0 | — |
| ACT Therapeutics Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mature, concentrated field with specific thin branches. The next steps depend on what decision you are making.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top 5
Given that 76.7% of all 43 records sit with five assignees, any new composition or mechanism claim should be checked against this group's filings before drafting.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkExplore the under-claimed branches
Nanotechnology delivery and cosmetic-use formulations show lower filing density than the core classes — worth a targeted search before assuming the space is clear.
Search white space in EurekaTrack the leader's next move
With the top assignee's momentum flat in the latest year, monitoring for a resumption of filing activity can flag a shift before it shows up in granted patents.
Set up assignee monitoringCommon questions about antifungal drug patents
In this dataset of 43 records, one assignee leads with 9 filings, and the top 5 assignees together hold 76.7% of all records in scope. The ranking covers 12 companies in total, with filing volume dropping off quickly after the leading names — the tenth-ranked company holds just 1 record. This pattern means freedom-to-operate work should focus first on the handful of repeat filers rather than trying to clear the whole ranked list.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 16 records and has declined since, with the 2022 midpoint down to 2 filings. None of the tracked leading assignees recorded a filing in the latest year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one or two years will look thinner than they eventually turn out to be, but the overall trend through the peak and pullback is a real signal of a plateauing field rather than sustained growth.
Every record in this set carries an A61K medicinal-preparation classification, and 62.8% also carry A61P therapeutic-activity codes, making these the two anchor classes. Smaller shares appear in devices for body fluids, cosmetic-use formulations and heterocyclic compound chemistry, each at 7.0%, and nanotechnology applications at 4.7%. Because a single record can carry multiple classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the 43 records.
The IPC composition points to nanotechnology-based delivery and cosmetic-use antifungal formulations as the thinnest branches relative to the core medicinal-preparation and therapeutic-activity classes. Topical nail mycosis treatments and CYP-mediated drug-drug interaction claims also show comparatively lower filing density in this dataset. These are not guarantees of an open field, but they are areas where the core small-molecule composition art is less crowded than at the centre of the landscape.
US20230102036A1, filed by Basilea Pharmaceutica International AG, Allschwil, and published in 2023, claims the use of a specific antifungal compound with a novel mechanism of action in treating fungal infections. For a company developing a compound with a similar or overlapping mechanism, this filing is a reference point to search against before finalising a chemical scaffold or treatment claim. It illustrates how mechanism-of-action claims, rather than only composition-of-matter claims, are being used to stake out ground in this field.
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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.