Dialysate Preparation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- One assignee dominates the ranked field, with the leader holding 26 records against a fifth-place count of just 11 and a tenth-place count of 3 — a long tail below the top.
- Filing has cooled from its 2018 peak of 8, and the tracked 2021→2024 span shows a -25% change, though 2025 onward is still filling in as publication lags filing.
- Disinfection and separation dominate the claim space, with A61M devices for body fluids on 86.1% of the 101 records and B01D separation processes on 58.4%, leaving informatics and digital control comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (3) — 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.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 101 published records at the intersection of dialysate preparation and dialysis water purification, filtered to documents whose title or abstract addresses endotoxin removal, conductivity control, bicarbonate proportioning, reverse osmosis loops, disinfection, or online monitoring. Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off, so the most recent one to two years of filings are still incomplete in the public record. Patent families, not raw document counts, are the fairer unit here because they neutralise continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates.
The technology sits at a specific junction: fluid-handling hardware (dialysis machines and their extracorporeal circuits) meets water-treatment process engineering (reverse osmosis, disinfection, ion control) meets increasingly, healthcare informatics for monitoring. The IPC composition below reflects that mix directly.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 101-record set: how filing activity has moved year on year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing activity, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 6 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2018, then eased; the tracked 2021 (4) to 2024 (3) span is a -25% change, and 2026 (1) is a partial year still being published. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted rather than as evidence of decline.
IPC subclass composition
A61M (devices for body fluids) appears on 86.1% of the 101 records, B01D (separation processes) on 58.4%, C02F (water treatment) on 55.4%, A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) on 50.5%, and F16K (valves and taps) on 48.5%. A61K, G16H and G06F each sit under 14%, marking the informatics and formulation edges of the field as comparatively thin. Records commonly carry several classes at once, so these shares sum to well over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 101 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Dialysate Preparation and Water Purification with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about dialysate preparation and water purification and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this field
US5591344A — Hot water disinfection of dialysis machines, including the extracorporeal circuit thereof
A dialysis machine incorporating a water treatment module, a dialysate preparation module with a dialysate circuit, and an extracorporeal circuit including a dialyzer and arterial and venous blood lines. The machine performs on-line disinfection of every fluid circuit — water treatment module, dialysate preparation module, extracorporeal circuit, blood lines and dialyzer — by circulating water heated to a high-level disinfection temperature (e.g. 80°C) through the fluid passages for a sufficient time (such as an hour) to achieve high-level disinfection.Filed by HHD LLC; cited 687 times, the most-cited record in this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5591344A | Hot water disinfection of dialysis machines, including the extracorporeal circuit thereof | 687 |
| 2 | WO1996025214A1 | Modular home dialysis system | 366 |
| 3 | US5762782A | Water treatment for dialysate preparation | 221 |
| 4 | US20130020237A1 | Blood treatment systems and methods | 216 |
| 5 | US20120138533A1 | Dialysis system control system with user interface | 206 |
| 6 | US5674390A | Dialysis machine with leakage detection | 194 |
| 7 | US5645734A | Dialysate separation method | 150 |
| 8 | US6136201A | Method of preparation of batch of physiologic solution | 144 |
| 9 | US20130037485A1 | Blood treatment systems and methods | 131 |
| 10 | US5932110A | Dialysate conductivity adjustment in a batch dialysate preparation system | 104 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a marker of current commercial relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns emerge from the ranking, the trend and the citation data together.
One filer, then a steep drop
The leading assignee holds 26 records in a 43-company ranking, while fifth place holds 11 and tenth place only 3. That gap means the field is not evenly contested: a newcomer is not up against forty similarly sized competitors, but against one heavily filed incumbent and a long tail of much smaller portfolios.
Past the 2018 peak
Filing peaked at 8 in 2018 and the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a -25% change. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounted rather than proof of a further slide — but the multi-year plateau itself is real.
Body-fluid devices dominate
A61M appears on 86.1% of records and B01D on 58.4%, meaning most filings claim hardware or separation-process elements rather than software. G16H (healthcare informatics) sits at only 11.9% and G06F at 7.9%, which is where digital monitoring and control claims are comparatively sparse.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to dialysate preparation and water purification, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked assignee list runs to 43 companies; recent-year momentum for the largest names has flattened rather than accelerated.
Sustained portfolio, quiet latest year
The leading assignee's 26-record portfolio anchors the field, built substantially on machine-level disinfection and water-treatment integration claims. Recent-year momentum for several of the largest legacy names, including Aksys and Fresenius Medical Care's German entity, shows zero filings in the latest tracked year — consistent with a mature core claim set rather than fresh build-out.
A workable second tier
Fifth place in the ranking sits at 11 records — enough to represent a real program, not a single opportunistic filing, but well short of the leader's density. This tier is where competitive-intelligence teams should watch for cross-licensing or acquisition activity rather than outright blocking positions.
Small inventor teams, repeat collaboration
Ten co-assignee pairs were identified, with the strongest individual pairings each appearing on 5 shared records. This points to compact, stable inventor teams filing repeatedly together rather than a broad, diffuse inventor base.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Aksys Ltd. | 0 | — |
| DEKA Products Limited Partnership | 0 | -100% |
| Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH | 0 | — |
| Medtronic, Inc. | 0 | — |
| YEE BRIAN K | 0 | — |
| WILT MICHAEL J | 0 | — |
| VAN DER MERWE DIRK A | 0 | — |
| GRANT KEVIN L | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or new filing strategy.
Check the under-claimed branches first
G16H and G06F carry the thinnest IPC coverage in this dataset (11.9% and 7.9% of 101 records). Before assuming a digital-monitoring or software-control concept is blocked, run a targeted search against those two classes specifically.
Explore white space in EurekaMap the leader's claim boundaries
With 26 records concentrated in one assignee, a claim-chart comparison against that portfolio is the fastest way to learn what is actually blocked versus merely filed.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaRevisit the trend after the lag clears
2025 and 2026 filings are still being published. Re-pull the trend in twelve to eighteen months before concluding the field has continued to cool.
Track filing trends in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 26 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 11 and the tenth-ranked company at 3. That gap indicates a concentrated core around machine-level disinfection and water-treatment integration, held by a small number of long-established medical device manufacturers. Below the leader, the remaining 43 ranked companies form a long tail, with many holding only a handful of records each, so competitive pressure outside the top few positions is comparatively light.
Filing peaked at 8 records in 2018 and the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a -25% change, indicating a plateau rather than growth. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any pull of this data are understated and should not be read as continued decline. A fair read is that the field has settled after an earlier filing wave, with the true current trajectory still emerging.
The dominant classes are A61M (devices for body fluids, on 86.1% of the 101 records in scope), B01D (separation processes such as filtration, 58.4%), C02F (water and wastewater treatment, 55.4%), A61L (sterilising and disinfecting, 50.5%) and F16K (valves and taps, 48.5%). Smaller shares fall in A61K (medicinal preparations), G16H (healthcare informatics) and G06F (digital data processing), the last two sitting under 14% each. Because a single record commonly carries several of these classes at once, the shares add up to well over 100% of the record total.
US5591344A covers on-line, high-temperature disinfection (around 80°C) of an entire dialysis machine's fluid path in one operation — water treatment module, dialysate preparation module, extracorporeal circuit, blood lines and dialyzer together. It is the most-cited record in this dataset at 687 citations, meaning a large share of later filings have had to design around or build on it. Anyone developing a whole-circuit thermal disinfection cycle for a dialysis machine should review this claim scope closely before finalising a disinfection sequence.
The thinnest IPC coverage sits in G16H (healthcare informatics, 11.9% of 101 records) and G06F (digital data processing, 7.9%), well below the 86.1% seen in A61M. That gap suggests software-driven monitoring, automated conductivity-based alarms, and digital verification of disinfection cycles are comparatively under-claimed relative to the hardware and process core. A freedom-to-operate search focused specifically on those two classes is a reasonable starting point before committing to a filing strategy 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.