Formalin Fixed Tissue Nucleic Acid Recovery Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Formalin Fixed Tissue Nucleic Acid Recovery Patents: Who Holds the Claim Space
Five assignees hold 71.8% of the field. 125 of 174 records in scope sit with the top five filers, leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants to compete for the rest. Filings rose to a peak of 26 in 2017. The complete-year window from 2021 (14) to 2024 (5) shows a 64% drop; 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the roughly 18-month publication lag and should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
- 1DOVETAIL GENOMICS LLC35
- 2CEPHEID INC34
- 3UNIV OF WASHINGTON21
- 4ILLUMINA INC19
- 5BIORESPONSE LLC16
See the full formalin fixed tissue nucleic acid recovery 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 on formalin fixed tissue nucleic acid recovery?
Filing in this space is concentrated: the top five assignees together hold 71.8% of the 174 records in scope, with a single leading assignee holding 35 records versus 16 for the fifth-ranked filer. That leaves 56 of the 61 ranked companies sharing the remaining fraction, most with only a handful of filings each. Anyone assessing competitive risk should prioritise the top five before surveying the long tail.
Are patent filings in this field growing or declining?
Filings peaked at 26 in 2017 and have declined since; the most recent complete-year comparison, 2021 (14) to 2024 (5), shows a 64% drop. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the true trajectory of the most recent two years is not yet visible. Treat the decline as established only through 2024.
What technology areas dominate the patent claims?
Two IPC subclasses dominate: C12Q, covering enzyme- and DNA-based measuring and testing methods, appears in 53.4% of the 174 records, and C12N, covering microorganisms and genetic engineering, appears in 52.3%. Medicinal preparations, material analysis and combinatorial chemistry libraries each cover smaller but still meaningful shares. Sterilising and disinfecting methods (A61L) are the thinnest-covered class in this dataset at 6.3%, suggesting comparatively less claim density there.
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 Formalin Fixed Tissue Nucleic Acid Recovery 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.