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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/decontamination-and-sterilization-of-facilities-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Biosafety & Containment · Patent LandscapeDecontamination and Sterilization of Facilities: Where the Patents Sit
- 54.9% concentration. The top 5 of 78 ranked assignees hold 296 of 539 records in scope — filing here is dominated by a small set of sterilization equipment makers, not a fragmented field.
- Filing has cooled from its 2020 peak. After peaking at 50 records in 2020, filings fell from 32 in 2021 to 14 in 2024, a -56% move over that span — though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in under publication lag.
- A61L dominates, but the tail is thin. 70.7% of records carry an A61L sterilizing/disinfecting class, while packaging, container and analytical classes each sit under 15% — signalling where claim space is still open.
539
Published Records
55%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-56%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (32 records) with 2024 (14) — 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 539 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the intersection of vaporized hydrogen peroxide, surface decontamination and biological indicator methods, combined with the practical engineering work of cycle development, material compatibility, residual aeration, distribution studies, load configuration and log reduction demonstration. It spans 539 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search string that pairs core decontamination chemistry and verification tools with the process-engineering terms that separate a lab result from a validated facility-scale cycle.
The scope favours records that document not just a decontamination chemistry or device but its validation — biological indicators, load configuration, aeration and material compatibility all point to claims written for regulatory and commercial deployment rather than bench research alone. That skews the corpus toward equipment makers and away from purely academic disinfectant chemistry.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 539-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records actually claim into.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings ran from 39 in 2017 to a peak of 50 in 2020, then declined to 14 by 2024, a -56% move over the 2021-2024 span. 2025 and 2026 counts sit lower still, but publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those final years are undercounted rather than genuinely quiet.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) appears in 70.7% of the 539 records, far ahead of A61M devices for body fluids (14.7%) and G01N material analysis and testing (9.1%). Records can carry more than one class, so these shares add up to well over 100% — the read is which branches carry claim density, not a partition of the corpus.
Shares are the percentage of the 539 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities with Eureka
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Most-cited records in the corpus
Representative filing
Vapor phase decontamination process biological indicator evaluator resistomer (BIER) vessel
AMERICAN STERILIZER COMPANY
A BIER vessel evaluates biological indicators for sterilization processes. By flowing gaseous sterilant, such as vaporized hydrogen peroxide, through a chamber before, during and after introducing the indicators, the indicators are exposed to preselected steady-state conditions, allowing accurate and reproducible evaluation of the indicator response. A door to an opening in the chamber allows introducing the indicators without appreciably disturbing the steady-state conditions inside. After a preselected time, the indicators are removed and evaluated for remaining biological activity.Filed by American Sterilizer Company — this record sits at the methodological core of the corpus: it is the validation apparatus that cycle development and log reduction demonstration claims are tested against.
Highest-cited patents in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6884392B2 | Apparatus and method for steam reprocessing flexible endoscopes | 1,074 |
| 2 | US5445792A | Optimum hydrogen peroxide vapor sterlization method | 205 |
| 3 | US6365102B1 | Method of enhanced sterilization with improved material compatibility | 172 |
| 4 | US20060008379A1 | Room decontamination with hydrogen peroxide vapor | 157 |
| 5 | US20160068793A1 | Manufacturing within a single-use container | 147 |
| 6 | US20030063997A1 | Monitoring sterilant concentration in a sterilization process | 122 |
| 7 | US20040091389A1 | Apparataus and method for steam reprocessing flexible endoscopes | 118 |
| 8 | US20050074359A1 | Aircraft and passenger decontamination system | 115 |
| 9 | US5508009A | Optimum hydrogen peroxide vapor sterilization system | 114 |
| 10 | US20150374868A1 | Sterilization container capable of providing an indication regarding whether or not surgical instruments ster… | 110 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current filing activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for filing strategy
Three read-throughs from the concentration, trend and technology figures above.
Concentration
54.9% / top 5
share of 539 records
A small group controls over half the corpus
Five assignees out of 78 ranked hold 296 of the 539 records in scope, with the leader alone at 102. New entrants are not filing into empty ground — they are filing adjacent to, or directly over, a small set of incumbents whose claim estates already cover the core vaporized hydrogen peroxide and biological indicator methods.
Top 10 combined reach 75.9% of all records.
Momentum
-56%
2021 to 2024 filings
Activity has cooled from its 2020 peak
Filings peaked at 50 records in 2020 and dropped from 32 in 2021 to 14 in 2024. That is a genuine three-year contraction, not a data artefact — though the 2025-2026 counts should be read with the 18-month publication lag in mind rather than treated as further decline.
Peak year: 2020 at 50 records.
Composition
70.7%
of records carry A61L
Core sterilizing claims dominate, adjacent classes are thin
A61L appears in over two-thirds of records, while packaging (B65B, 5.4%), containers (B65D, 3.9%) and implant-adjacent classes (A61F, 4.5%) each sit under 15%. That gap is where load configuration and packaging-integrated decontamination claims remain comparatively unclaimed.
A61M devices for body fluids is the next-largest class at 14.7%.
Eureka AI Agent
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to decontamination and sterilization of facilities, with the prior art for and against each one.
Co-filing pattern
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Steris Corporation | CENTANNI MICHAEL A | 6 |
| Steris Corporation | BACIK MICHAEL A | 4 |
| Steris Corporation | WIGET PAUL W | 3 |
| Steris Corporation | WEISS RICHARD A | 3 |
| Steris Corporation | MEILANDER TIMOTHY W | 3 |
| Steris Corporation | MCVEY IAIN F | 3 |
| Steris Corporation | PASMORE MARK E | 2 |
| Steris Corporation | KOZAK JANUSZ K | 2 |
Co-assignee activity is limited to 10 identified pairs, concentrated around one leading assignee and a small set of named inventors — a sign that most filings in this space are prosecuted in-house rather than through joint ventures.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranking covers 78 assignees across the full 539-record corpus. Filing here is led by sterilization equipment manufacturers, with pharmaceutical and medical device makers filing into adjacent validation and packaging claims.
Leader
102 records
single top assignee
One assignee anchors the field
The leading assignee's 102 records is nearly double the fifth-place total of 35, reflecting decades of continuous filing into core vaporized hydrogen peroxide cycle and BIER vessel methods.
Fifth place sits at 35 records; tenth at 16.
Recent momentum
0-1 filings
latest year, leading assignees
Momentum has flattened across the top of the ranking
Recent-year filing counts for the largest assignees sit at zero or one, including a -100% YoY move for one major pharmaceutical filer. That is consistent with the broader post-2020 filing decline rather than any single company retreating from the space.
Publication lag means the most recent year understates true filing activity.
Co-filing
10 pairs
identified co-assignee pairs
Collaboration is narrow and inventor-anchored
The strongest co-assignee pairs link one incumbent sterilization company to a small set of named inventors rather than to other corporate assignees, suggesting prosecution stays largely internal even at the top of the ranking.
Strongest pair recorded at 6 co-filed records.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Steris Corporation | 1 | — |
| Steris Corporation | 0 | — |
| ASP (Advanced Sterilization Products) Global | 0 | — |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| ASP Global Manufacturing GmbH | 0 | — |
| Tomi Environmental Solutions Inc. | 0 | — |
| Stryker Corporation | 0 | — |
| Sterifre Medical Inc. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this next
The figures above describe the shape of the field. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific assignees.
Map the top assignees' active claim families
The top 5 hold 54.9% of all 539 records — before filing near their core methods, check which specific claims in their families are still in force and in which jurisdictions.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaStress-test a white-space claim
Packaging-integrated decontamination and load configuration validation show thinner class density than core A61L sterilizing claims — a targeted prior-art pull will confirm whether that gap is real or just under-indexed.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the post-2020 filing pattern
The move from 32 filings in 2021 to 14 in 2024 is a real contraction, but 2025-2026 data is still incomplete. Set up ongoing monitoring rather than relying on a single snapshot.
Set up filing alerts in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions on this landscape
Among the 78 assignees in the ranked dataset, one company leads clearly with 102 of the 539 records in scope, roughly triple the count of the tenth-ranked assignee at 16. The top 5 assignees together account for 296 records, or 54.9% of the field, so filing activity is concentrated rather than spread evenly. That concentration is typical of sterilization equipment categories, where a small number of manufacturers have filed continuously since well before this dataset's 2015 start.
Filing peaked in 2020 at 50 records and then declined, falling from 32 records in 2021 to 14 in 2024 — a -56% move over that three-year span. That is a genuine contraction rather than noise. However, 2025 and 2026 figures in the dataset should not be read as continued decline: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years are always undercounted at the time of any snapshot.
A61L, the IPC subclass covering sterilising and disinfecting, appears in 70.7% of the 539 records in scope, making it by far the dominant classification. A61M (devices for body fluids) and G01N (material analysis and testing) follow at 14.7% and 9.1% respectively. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, and they should be read as claim density per branch rather than a strict market split.
The classes with the lowest representation relative to the dominant A61L branch include packaging and wrapping (B65B, 5.4% of records), containers (B65D, 3.9%) and implant-related claims (A61F, 4.5%). Combined with the search scope's emphasis on load configuration, distribution studies and residual aeration, this suggests packaging-integrated decontamination and load-validation instrumentation are comparatively under-claimed relative to core sterilant chemistry and biological indicator methods. Any white-space claim there should still be checked against the leading assignees' broader portfolios before filing, since incumbents may hold adjacent claims not captured by IPC class alone.
US20020160440A1, assigned to American Sterilizer Company, describes a BIER (biological indicator evaluator resistomer) vessel that exposes biological indicators to steady-state vaporized hydrogen peroxide conditions inside a chamber, using a door mechanism that allows introducing or removing indicators without disturbing those conditions. It matters because BIER vessel testing is a standard step in validating any new sterilization cycle, so this filing sits at a methodological chokepoint that cycle development and log reduction demonstration claims are commonly tested against. Anyone developing a new validation apparatus for biological indicators should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Decontamination and Sterilization of Facilities covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.