Endoscopic Suturing and Closure Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
Endoscopic Suturing and Closure Patents: Who Leads and Where the Gaps Sit
129 of 133 records (97.0%) sit in A61B diagnosis-and-surgery classes, while only 6 records (4.5%) touch A61L sterilising claims — closure mechanics dominate, infection-control aspects are barely claimed. Filings rose unevenly from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 11 in 2024. The 2026 count is partial by definition — publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the last one to two years of any trend line understate actual filing activity.
- 1ETHICON ENDO SURGERY INC26
- 2CR BARD INC20
- 3VALENTX18
- 4PRESIDENT & FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE17
- 5CHILDRENS MEDICAL CENT CORP17
See the full endoscopic suturing and closure 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 landscape
Who holds the most patents in endoscopic suturing and closure?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 26 records, well ahead of fifth place at 17 and tenth place at 6 across 52 ranked companies. This gradient indicates a single entrenched medical-device filer rather than a crowded competitive middle. Newer entrants would be filing against that leader’s accumulated claim set in the core closure-mechanism art, so freedom-to-operate work should start there rather than with the long tail of smaller filers.
What technology areas are most heavily claimed in this space?
A61B, the diagnosis-and-surgery subclass, covers 97.0% of the 133 records in scope, making basic closure mechanics — clip deployment, evertable-arm designs, through-the-scope delivery — the most densely claimed territory. A61F implant and prosthesis claims appear in 33.8% of records, often layered onto the same devices. Sterilising and disinfecting claims under A61L, by contrast, appear in only 4.5% of records, marking a comparatively open adjacency.
Is the endoscopic closure patent field still growing?
Filing activity rose from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 11 in 2024, but a formal growth rate is not computable from this dataset because fewer than four complete years remain once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for. The 2026 count in particular should be read as understated rather than as an actual decline. A reliable trend read will need at least one more annual data cut.
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 Endoscopic Suturing and Closure 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.