Biologic Lyophilization Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
Biologic Lyophilization Primary Drying Patents: Who Leads and Where the Claim Space Is Still Open
10.9% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees hold 749 of 6,865 records in scope — a real lead, but not a lock on the field. Filings rose from 365 in 2017 to a peak of 395 in 2018, then declined; the clearest complete-year comparison in the data shows 279 records in 2021 falling to 147 in 2024, a 47% drop. The final years in the chart (2025–2026) are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates, so they should not be read as a continued collapse.
- 1TAKEDA PHARMA CO LTD2.8%
- 2AMGEN INC2.4%
- 3MERCK SHARP & DOHME LLC2.0%
- 4OTSUKA PHARM CO LTD1.9%
- 5PFIZER INC1.9%
See the full biologic lyophilization primary drying 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 on this landscape
Who holds the most patents in biologic lyophilization primary drying?
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 192 of the 6,865 records in scope, with the fifth-ranked assignee at 128 and the tenth at 83. Together the top five account for 749 records, or 10.9% of the field, which shows leadership without dominance. The rest of the ranked 100 assignees and a long tail of smaller filers hold the majority of the remaining records, so a competitive review should not stop at the single leader.
Is patent filing in freeze-drying process control increasing or slowing down?
Filing peaked at 395 records in 2018 and the clearest complete-year comparison shows a decline from 279 records in 2021 to 147 in 2024, a 47% drop. Because publication typically lags actual filing by about 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any chart are still incomplete and should not be read as proof the decline is continuing. The safest reading is that documented activity cooled meaningfully after 2018 through the last fully reported year.
What does US8800162B2 actually cover in a freeze-drying process?
US8800162B2, assigned to Syntegon Telstar Technologies, describes monitoring and controlling a freeze-drying process by isolating the drying chamber and sensing pressure and shelf temperature during primary drying, then calculating product-related values from those readings. It is a process-control patent tied to specific chamber-isolation and pressure-sensing steps rather than a broad claim over freeze-drying as a concept. Anyone building an automated primary-drying endpoint system should review its specific method steps rather than assume it blocks all pressure-based endpoint detection.
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 Biologic Lyophilization Primary Drying 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.