Antisense Oligonucleotide Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 38.3% concentration. The five leading assignees hold 639 of 1,669 records in scope — filing here means designing around a small set of incumbents, not a fragmented field.
- Filings have already peaked. Annual filings rose to 192 in 2021 and have since flattened or declined through the 2022 midpoint of 177, a pattern worth checking before assuming continued growth.
- 88.1% sit in one IPC subclass. C12N (genetic engineering) covers the vast majority of the 1,669 records, while measuring/testing and agrochemical-adjacent classes stay under 10% — a sign of where claim density is lightest.
What the antisense oligonucleotide patent record shows
Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics sit at the intersection of chemistry and molecular biology: phosphorothioate backbone modifications, gapmer design and exon-skipping mechanisms each carry their own claim traditions, and the IPC composition of this dataset reflects that split between genetic engineering (C12N), medicinal preparations (A61K) and nucleic-acid chemistry (C07H). The scope here is 1,669 published records filed or published between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off, drawn from a search string that ties oligonucleotide chemistry terms to delivery and toxicity concerns such as CNS intrathecal delivery and hepatotoxicity.
Filing activity is not evenly spread: a handful of assignees account for a disproportionate share of the record base, and the annual filing count has already passed its peak. Readers should treat the most recent one or two years in any trend as understated, since publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months.
Filing trends and technology composition
These figures come directly from the 1,669 records in scope. Class shares are computed against the full record total and will sum to more than 100% because a single record can carry several IPC classes.
A flat-to-declining filing curve since 2021
Annual filings rose from 35 in 2017 to a peak of 192 in 2021, then eased to 177 by the 2022 midpoint — evidence of a maturing rather than accelerating field. The 2026 figure of 4 is a partial year and should not be read as a collapse; publication lag alone accounts for much of that drop.
Genetic engineering and medicinal preparations dominate the classification mix
C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) appears on 88.1% of the 1,669 records and A61K (medicinal preparations) on 78.0%, confirming that most filings combine a molecular construct claim with a formulation or use claim. C07H (sugars and nucleic acids), at 18.5%, and C12Q (enzyme/DNA measuring and testing), at 8.4%, mark the smaller chemistry- and diagnostics-adjacent pockets of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,669 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Antisense Oligonucleotide Therapeutics with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art shaping freedom to operate
Antisense oligonucleotide, compositions and pharmaceutical formulations thereof for exon skipping
The filing describes bipartite antisense oligonucleotides that pair a targeting sequence with a 5′-splice-site decoy sequence complementary to U1 snRNA, positioned at the 5′ and/or 3′ end of the targeting sequence to promote exon skipping during pre-mRNA splicing. The decoy sequence is specified across a range of short nucleotide lengths, and the targeting sequence is described as capable of hybridising to an exon, a flanking intron, or an intron-exon junction.Filed by Asocura Pharmaceuticals (Guangzhou), published 2026 — illustrates the current generation of exon-skipping claim construction built on decoy-sequence chemistry.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6747014B2 | Compositions and methods for non-parenteral delivery of oligonucleotides | 833 |
| 2 | WO1995032987A1 | ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDE MODULATION OF raf GENE EXPRESSION | 365 |
| 3 | US6133246A | Antisense oligonucleotide compositions and methods for the modulation of JNK proteins | 278 |
| 4 | US6727355B2 | Pharmaceutical composition for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy | 202 |
| 5 | US20060275294A1 | Method of prevention and treatment of aging, age-related disorders and/or age-related manifestations includin… | 191 |
| 6 | US6653466B2 | Pharmaceutical composition for treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy | 183 |
| 7 | US5856103A | Method for selectively ranking sequences for antisense targeting | 173 |
| 8 | US5576208A | Antisense oligonucleotide inhibition of the RAS gene | 171 |
| 9 | US20120122801A1 | Mannose-6-phosphate receptor mediated gene transfer into muscle cells | 139 |
| 10 | EP1191098A2 | Pharmaceutical composition for treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy | 132 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations within this corpus; treat them as a signal of influence on subsequent filings, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once concentration, timing and classification are read together.
A small group of incumbents controls a large share of the record base
The five leading assignees together hold 639 of the 1,669 records in scope, and the top ten extend that to 825 records, or 49.4% of the field. New entrants are not filing into open ground; they are filing around an already-dense set of claims held by a handful of companies.
Filing volume has already crested
Annual filings climbed from 35 in 2017 to a peak of 192 in 2021, then held roughly flat through 2022 at 177 before the visible decline into the partial 2026 count of 4. Publication lag of about 18 months means the most recent two years understate true filing activity, but the plateau itself predates that lag.
Claim activity is concentrated in genetic engineering and formulation classes
C12N and A61K together cover the large majority of records, while C12Q (enzyme/DNA testing) and G01N (material analysis) sit under 10%. That gap is not proof of a technology gap on its own, but it does mark where fewer competing claims currently exist.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum has stalled
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies counted by record, from a leader at 309 records down through the ranked field. Momentum in the most recent year has cooled across the leaders shown in this dataset, consistent with the overall plateau in filing volume.
One assignee holds a clear lead over the rest of the field
The top-ranked assignee's 309 records sit well above the fifth-place figure of 53 and the tenth-place figure of 36, a gap that marks a genuine leader rather than a cluster of near-equal filers.
Recent-year filing has slowed sharply among named leaders
Several of the most active historical assignees show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with year-on-year changes of -100% recorded against prior-year activity. This is consistent with the broader plateau but is also partly an artefact of publication lag on the newest filings.
Collaboration is concentrated among a small set of research institutions
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest joint filing relationship reaching 24 shared records and the next two pairs at 21 and 15. These pairings cluster around public research institutes rather than commercial assignees.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| RAGE BIOTECH PTY LTD | 1 | -67% |
| Dyne Therapeutics Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc | 0 | — |
| Sarepta Therapeutics Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc | 0 | — |
| Nogra Pharma Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Codiak BioSciences Inc | 0 | — |
| Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or identifying open claim space.
Check freedom to operate against the leading assignees
With 38.3% of records held by five assignees, any new filing in backbone chemistry or gapmer design should be checked against their specific claim scope before drafting.
Run a freedom-to-operate screenTrack momentum shifts before committing to a branch
Several historically active assignees show zero filings in the latest year; confirming whether this reflects strategic pivot or publication lag matters before reading it as an opening.
Monitor assignee activityExplore the under-claimed IPC branches
Classes below 10% of records, such as C12Q and G01N, warrant a closer look at whether that reflects true white space or simply a smaller addressable claim area.
Explore white space with EurekaCommon questions on antisense oligonucleotide patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 309 records, well ahead of the fifth-place assignee at 53 and the tenth-place assignee at 36. The top five assignees combined hold 639 of the 1,669 records in scope, or 38.3% of the field, which marks a genuinely concentrated landscape rather than a fragmented one. Anyone assessing freedom to operate in this space should check that leader's portfolio first, since it dwarfs the rest of the ranked assignees.
No, filing volume has already peaked. Annual filings rose from 35 in 2017 to a high of 192 in 2021, then held roughly flat at 177 by 2022 before declining through the most recent years. Some of that recent decline reflects publication lag, which typically runs about 18 months, but the plateau at the 2021-2022 level predates that effect and suggests the field is maturing rather than accelerating.
Genetic engineering claims under IPC class C12N appear on 88.1% of the 1,669 records in scope, and medicinal preparation claims under A61K appear on 78.0%, meaning most filings pair a molecular construct with a formulation or therapeutic-use claim. Nucleic-acid chemistry under C07H covers 18.5% of records, while enzyme and DNA measuring/testing under C12Q covers 8.4%, marking smaller and comparatively less crowded pockets of the field.
The classes with the lowest record shares in this dataset are the best starting point: C12Q (enzyme and DNA measuring/testing) at 8.4% and G01N (material analysis and testing) at 1.2% of the 1,669 records sit far below the dominant C12N and A61K classes. That does not guarantee open claim space, since low volume can also mean a naturally smaller addressable area, but combined with specific under-claimed branches such as decoy-sequence exon-skipping chemistry or intrathecal CNS delivery formulations, it is a reasonable place to begin a novelty search.
It is concentrated at the top with a long tail beneath it. The five leading assignees hold 38.3% of all 1,669 records in scope, and extending to the ten leading assignees raises that to 49.4%. Below that threshold, the ranked field spreads across roughly ninety further assignees, many likely holding only a handful of records each, which is the typical shape of a field anchored by a few well-resourced originators alongside a broad base of academic and smaller commercial filers.
Research Antisense Oligonucleotide Therapeutics in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.