Chromatographic Clearance of Impurities Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Is Heading
Concentrated but not locked down. the five most active filers account for 30.0% of all 1,176 records in scope, and the top 10 combined reach 44.4% — leaving more than half the field to a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants. Filings ran at 101 in 2017 and reached a peak so far of 111 in 2023. The mid-range climb is the more reliable signal: 46 records in 2021 grew to 70 in 2024, a 52% increase over three years. The count of 8 shown for 2026 and any softness in 2025 reflect publication lag rather than an actual slowdown in filing.
- 1REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS INC92
- 2OPKO BIOLOGICS LTD92
- 3GENMAB AS65
- 4BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO63
- 5ALEXION PHARMACEUTICALS INC41
See the full chromatographic clearance of impurities 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 this patent landscape
Who holds the most patents in chromatographic clearance of impurities?
One assignee leads the ranked list with 92 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 41 and the tenth at 32. The top five combined account for 30.0% of all 1,176 records in scope, and the top ten reach 44.4%, which means concentration at the very top is real but more than half the field remains spread across a long tail of smaller filers. This structure matters for freedom-to-operate work: a single dominant portfolio is easier to map than a fragmented one, but the long tail still needs checking claim by claim.
Is patent filing in this area growing or slowing down?
Filings grew from 46 records in 2021 to 70 in 2024, a 52% increase over that three-year span, with the highest single-year count so far at 111 in 2023. The lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 are not evidence of a slowdown — publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so those years are still filling in. Anyone citing a recent trend should anchor the comparison to 2024 as the last complete year rather than to the partial years after it.
What patent classes cover chromatographic clearance methods?
The dominant class is C07K, covering peptides and proteins, which appears in 69.3% of the 1,176 records — reflecting that most clearance claims are tied to a specific biologic product rather than a standalone method. A61K (medicinal preparations, 36.1%) and C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering, 31.4%) are the next most common overlaps. Separation-process claims under B01D and analytical claims under G01N are present but noticeably thinner, at 11.2% and 8.5% respectively, since these shares can add up past 100% because a single record often carries multiple classes.
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 Chromatographic Clearance of Impurities 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.