Hemodialysis Machine Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 51.3% of the field sits with five companies. 470 of 916 records in scope belong to the top five assignees — this is a market with an entrenched core, not a fragmented one.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 48 and has not recovered. The 2022 midpoint of 36 sits below peak, and momentum data show several leading assignees at zero filings in the latest year.
- A61M dominates classification at 96.1% of records. B01D separation processes appear in 41.4% of records, but informatics-adjacent classes like G16H and G06F sit at just 3.1% each — a narrow slice of an otherwise crowded field.
What the dialysis patent record actually shows
Hemodialysis machines and dialyzers form a mature device category where core mechanical and fluid-handling claims were staked out decades ago, and the current filing record reflects incremental defense of that ground more than a wave of new entrants. The search scope covers 916 records published between 2015 and mid-2026, filtered to claims touching ultrafiltration control, dialysate preparation, biocompatibility, home hemodialysis and middle-molecule clearance. Filing activity peaked in 2020 at 48 records and has trended flat to down since, with the most recent year understated because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months.
Classification data point to a field still anchored in body-fluid device claims (A61M, 96.1% of records) and separation membrane and filtration claims (B01D, 41.4%), with smaller but persistent activity in sterilization, water treatment, valves, pumps and digital health informatics. The receiving-office spread — led by the United States, Europe and Canada, with meaningful volume in Japan, WIPO and China — indicates the leading assignees are filing for global coverage rather than concentrating in a single jurisdiction.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 916-record dataset: activity over time, and where claims cluster across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 20 in 2017 to a peak of 48 in 2020, then eased to 36 at the 2022 midpoint and continued declining toward the present. The final year is partial and undercounts true filing activity because of publication lag.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
A61M and B01D together account for the great majority of claim activity; because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares are read against the full 916-record base rather than against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 916 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Hemodialysis Machines and Dialyzers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about hemodialysis machines and dialyzers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this dataset
US5591344A — Hot water disinfection of dialysis machines, including the extracorporeal circuit thereof
A dialysis machine incorporates a water treatment module, a dialysate preparation module and an extracorporeal circuit including a dialyzer and blood lines connecting to the patient. The machine performs on-line disinfection of all fluid circuits — water treatment, dialysate preparation, blood lines and dialyzer — by circulating water heated to a high disinfection temperature (around 80°C) through the fluid passages for a sufficient time to achieve high-level disinfection.Cited 687 times within this dataset — the single highest citation count in scope.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5591344A | Hot water disinfection of dialysis machines, including the extracorporeal circuit thereof | 687 |
| 2 | US20050131332A1 | High convection home hemodialysis/hemofiltration and sorbent system | 617 |
| 3 | US4661246A | Dialysis instrument with dialysate side pump for moving body fluids | 522 |
| 4 | US5863421A | Hemodialysis machine with automatic priming by induced pressure pulses | 426 |
| 5 | WO1996025214A1 | Modular home dialysis system | 366 |
| 6 | US4618343A | Apparatus for peritoneal dialysis | 344 |
| 7 | US8029454B2 | High convection home hemodialysis/hemofiltration and sorbent system | 334 |
| 8 | US5580460A | Process for determining the operability of the structural components in the dialysis section of a dialyzer of… | 324 |
| 9 | US5100554A | Method for the in-vivo determination of hemodialysis parameters | 324 |
| 10 | US5326476A | Method and apparatus for kidney dialysis using machine with programmable memory | 313 |
Citation counts inside this searched corpus favour older filings and should be read as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and classification data are read together.
The core is locked up, not fragmented
Five companies hold 470 of the 916 records in scope, and the top ten combined reach 705 records, or 77.0% of the field. New entrants are filing into a space where a small group already controls the majority of granted and pending claims around core machine and dialyzer architecture.
Filing activity has cooled since 2020
The 2022 midpoint of 36 filings sits below the 2020 peak, and recent-year momentum data show several of the largest assignees recording zero filings in the latest year, with year-over-year declines of -75% to -100% among tracked leaders. This reads as consolidation and defensive maintenance rather than an active filing race.
Digital and informatics claims are thin
Core fluid-handling and separation claims (A61M, B01D) dominate the classification profile, while healthcare informatics and digital data processing classes each cover only 28 records, 3.1% of the field. That is a narrow footprint relative to the machine-hardware claim density surrounding it.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to hemodialysis machines and dialyzers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it thins out
The ranked leaders account for a large share of filings, but the concentration is steep rather than even — a handful of names sit well ahead of a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
A clear leader ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 138 records against a fifth-place figure of 62 and a tenth-place figure of 28 — the drop-off from first to fifth place is steep, and the drop from fifth to tenth is comparatively gentle, pointing to one dominant filer and a cluster of mid-sized competitors behind it.
Corporate structure shows up in the data
The strongest co-assignee pairing in this dataset links two entities within the same corporate family at 165 shared records, consistent with group restructuring or joint IP holding rather than an external collaboration. Only ten co-assignee pairs appear at all, so most filing in this field is done by a single assignee of record.
Even the leaders have slowed
Recent-year momentum figures show multiple top-ranked assignees, including the overall leader by co-filing volume, recording zero filings in the most recent tracked year, with declines as steep as -100% year-over-year for some. This is consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend rather than a leader pulling away.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| DEKA Products LP | 1 | -75% |
| Baxter International Inc. | 0 | — |
| Baxter Healthcare SA | 0 | — |
| DIALITY INC | 0 | -100% |
| Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Easydial Inc. | 0 | — |
| Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH | 0 | -100% |
| Axis International Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking, or scouting under-claimed ground.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top-cited prior art
Before drafting claims around dialysate circuit disinfection or extracorporeal priming, review the highest-citation records in this dataset, several of which have been cited hundreds of times by later filers in the same space.
Explore the prior art tableTrack the leaders whose filing has gone to zero
Several top-ranked assignees show zero filings in the latest tracked year. Confirm whether that reflects a genuine pullback or a publication-lag artefact before assuming the ground is open.
Review assignee momentumScope claims in the thinner informatics classes
G16H and G06F each cover only 3.1% of records despite dialysis machines increasingly carrying embedded software and connectivity. That gap is worth a closer technical read before assuming it is crowded.
See the IPC breakdownCommon questions about hemodialysis machine and dialyzer patents
Within this 916-record dataset, filing is concentrated: the top five assignees together hold 470 records, or 51.3% of the field, and the top ten hold 705 records, or 77.0%. The single top-ranked assignee holds 138 records, well ahead of the fifth-place figure of 62, which points to one dominant filer rather than an even spread among a handful of large players. A full ranking of 100 companies is captured in the underlying data, but most of the volume sits with the leaders rather than the long tail.
Filing activity in this dataset peaked in 2020 at 48 records and has not recovered since, with the 2022 midpoint at 36 records already below that peak. Several of the leading assignees show zero filings in the most recent tracked year, with year-over-year declines as steep as -100% among tracked leaders. The very last year in any filing trend is typically undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the true 2025-2026 picture will firm up as more records publish, but the multi-year direction through the peak is clear.
US5591344A describes hot water disinfection of dialysis machines, covering on-line disinfection of the water treatment module, dialysate preparation module and extracorporeal circuit by circulating water heated to a high disinfection temperature, around 80 degrees Celsius, through the machine's fluid passages. It is the most-cited record in this dataset at 687 citations, meaning a large share of later filings in dialysis machine disinfection and fluid-circuit design reference it directly or indirectly. Anyone drafting claims around integrated disinfection cycles or hot-water sterilization of dialysis fluid paths should review this record closely as part of freedom-to-operate work.
Classification data show core fluid-handling and membrane separation claims (A61M at 96.1% of records, B01D at 41.4%) heavily occupied, while healthcare informatics and digital data processing classes each cover only 28 records, 3.1% of the 916-record field. That gap suggests claim space around software-driven dialysate flow management, home hemodialysis automation, and digital ultrafiltration feedback is comparatively thin relative to the mechanical and membrane art surrounding it. High density in the core classes does not mean those branches are exhausted technically, only that the claim space is more crowded to file into.
The evidence points to concentration rather than fragmentation. Five assignees account for 51.3% of the 916 records in scope, and ten account for 77.0%. The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset links two entities at 165 shared records, consistent with filings held jointly within a single corporate family rather than a genuine cross-company collaboration. Only ten co-assignee pairs exist at all in this dataset, meaning most records list a single assignee of record.
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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.
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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.