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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/lipid-nanoparticle-formulation-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Updated 2026Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation Patents: Filing Trends and Formulation Claim Ownership
- Filings peaked in 2024 at 831 families then momentum reversed sharply — the leading assignees are each down 75-96% year-on-year in the latest count, a sign the core ionizable-lipid claim space is filling in rather than expanding.
- Five records absorb most of the citation weight the two most-cited filings alone carry 1,059 and 941 citations, both centred on lipid nanoparticle formulations for nucleic acid delivery — the prior art anyone entering this space has to design around.
- A61K dominates at 4,118 of 4,300 records while B82Y nanotechnology (252) and C07F organo-metallic chemistry (91) stay thin, pointing to formulation chemistry still open around delivery mechanics and novel lipid backbones.
4,300
Published Records
26%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+102%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
WO
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (412 records) with 2024 (831) — 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 4,300 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation patents span the composition of ionizable lipids, PEG-lipids, phospholipids and sterols that together determine encapsulation efficiency, particle size and endosomal escape — the three properties that decide whether a nucleic acid payload actually reaches the cytosol. The dataset behind this page pulls 4,300 patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 under IPC classes covering medicinal preparations, genetic engineering carriers and therapeutic compositions, filtered to documents that explicitly claim formulation-level parameters rather than the nucleic acid cargo itself.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in any trend line understate real filing activity; treat the most recent one or two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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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The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Publication counts by year and IPC subclass, drawn from the 4,300 families in this corpus.
A 2024 peak followed by a sharp pullback
Filings rose from 117 in 2017 to a peak of 831 in 2024, crossing the 2022 midpoint of 630 on the way up. The climb from 2017 to 2024 reflects the mRNA-vaccine-driven scramble to secure formulation claims; the drop since suggests the easiest claim space around ionizable lipid ratios and PEG-lipid substitution is now occupied, pushing new filers toward narrower or adjacent chemistries.
Medicinal preparations dominate; nanotechnology and organo-metallic chemistry stay thin
A61K (4,118 records) and C12N (1,725) confirm this is fundamentally a drug-formulation and genetic-engineering-delivery field, not a materials-science one. B82Y nanotechnology (252) and C07F organo-metallic chemistry (91) are the smallest subclasses relative to the total, which is where formulation approaches outside the standard four-lipid-component model would sit if they existed.
Shares are the percentage of the 4,300 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 Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited formulation patents
Representative recent filing
Polyphenol lipid nanoparticles and methods of use
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
Disclosed herein are polyphenol lipid nanoparticles, including about 5-95 mol % ionizable lipid, about 5-30 mol % phospholipid, about 30-60 mol % sterol, about 1-5 mol % PEG lipid, and about 0.5-15 mol % polyphenol. Methods of making the lipid nanoparticles comprising a cargo, and methods of delivering a lipid nanoparticle comprising a cargo are provided. Methods of increasing endosomal escape of a lipid nanoparticle delivered to a cell are also provided and comprise inclusion of polyphenol in the lipid nanoparticle.Filed by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published 2026-06-11 — filed after the corpus's citation leaders, so its influence is not yet reflected in citation counts.
Top cited records in this corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2017075531A1 | Novel lipids and lipid nanoparticle formulations for delivery of nucleic acids | 1,059 |
| 2 | WO2015199952A1 | Novel lipids and lipid nanoparticle formulations for delivery of nucleic acids | 941 |
| 3 | WO2017173054A1 | Lipid nanoparticle formulations for crispr/CAS components | 676 |
| 4 | WO2017117528A1 | Lipids and lipid nanoparticle formulations for delivery of nucleic acids | 674 |
| 5 | WO2017099823A1 | Compositions and methods for delivery of therapeutic agents | 645 |
| 6 | US7404969B2 | Lipid nanoparticle based compositions and methods for the delivery of biologically active molecules | 639 |
| 7 | WO2017004143A1 | Lipids and lipid nanoparticle formulations for delivery of nucleic acids | 579 |
| 8 | WO2018081480A1 | Lipid nanoparticle formulations | 541 |
| 9 | US20080020058A1 | Lipid nanoparticle based compositions and methods for the delivery of biologically active molecules | 436 |
| 10 | US20150376115A1 | Novel lipids and lipid nanoparticle formulations for delivery of nucleic acids | 414 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; a 2026 filing with zero citations may still claim commercially important ground.
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 Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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 numbers say about the field
Four patterns stand out once the filing trend, IPC spread and receiving-office data are put side by side.
Filing momentum
831 → 80
2024 peak vs. latest partial year
The rush has cooled
Filings climbed steadily from 117 in 2017 to 831 in 2024, then dropped off sharply. Every top assignee tracked in the momentum data shows a year-on-year decline of 75% or more, which is consistent with core formulation claim space filling in rather than a slowdown in LNP research itself.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Receiving offices
883 PCT filings
vs. 831 US, 645 EPO
PCT leads national filing
The largest single receiving office bucket is WIPO's PCT route at 883, ahead of the United States at 831 and Europe at 645, with Australia, Israel and Canada trailing. That ordering points to applicants seeking broad multi-jurisdiction cover before committing to national phase, typical of formulation IP meant to support global biologics manufacturing.
Receiving office distribution
Citation concentration
1,059 citations
single most-cited record
A small set of filings anchors the field
The top two cited records, both titled around lipid nanoparticle formulations for nucleic acid delivery, carry 1,059 and 941 citations respectively — far ahead of the rest of the top-five, which cluster in the 645-676 range. New entrants drafting around ionizable lipid composition should expect these records in any freedom-to-operate search.
Top cited records
Co-filing structure
10 co-assignee pairs
strongest pair: 30 shared families
Collaboration is narrow but deep
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, but the strongest pairing shares 30 families and the next two share 25 and 20 — evidence of a small number of tight, repeat co-development relationships rather than a broad collaborative network.
Co-assignee pairs
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to lipid nanoparticle formulation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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 holds the formulation claims
Assignee activity in this corpus is concentrated among a handful of nucleic-acid-delivery specialists, most of whom are now filing far less than at the 2024 peak.
Momentum leader by volume
-90% YoY
latest-year change
Even the most active filer is pulling back
The assignee with the most latest-year filings in the momentum data recorded just 3, down 90% year-on-year. That pattern repeats across every tracked assignee, suggesting the wave of formulation filings tied to mRNA vaccine and gene-editing delivery platforms has largely run its course for now.
Recent-year momentum
Co-development depth
30 shared families
strongest co-assignee pair
A small number of deep partnerships
The strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset spans 30 shared families, well ahead of the next strongest pairs at 25 and 20. These concentrated pairings usually mark platform-licensing or manufacturing partnerships rather than one-off joint filings.
Co-assignee pairs
Academic presence
Multiple university assignees
in momentum and translation data
Universities remain active but small-scale
Institutions including university systems appear among the tracked assignees with single-digit latest-year filings, reflecting sponsored or grant-driven research programs rather than commercial-scale filing campaigns.
Assignee ranking
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Acuitas Therapeutics | 3 | -90% |
| Generation Bio Co. | 2 | -82% |
| CureVac SE | 2 | -78% |
| ModernaTX, Inc. | 1 | -92% |
| Intellia Therapeutics | 1 | -75% |
| The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania | 1 | -96% |
| Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd. | 1 | -50% |
| Translate Bio, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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
The filing and citation patterns above raise questions that are worth pressure-testing against your own program before drawing conclusions.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the citation leaders
The top five most-cited records concentrate around ionizable lipid composition and nucleic acid delivery claims. Any new formulation program should map its lipid ratios and PEG-lipid chemistry against these specific families before finalizing a composition.
Explore prior art in EurekaWatch whether the 2024 peak was cargo-specific
The sharp pullback since 2024 could reflect saturation in mRNA-vaccine-linked formulations specifically rather than LNP formulation broadly. Segmenting the trend by therapeutic cargo would clarify whether the decline is field-wide or concentrated in one application.
Segment the dataset in EurekaAssess the thin IPC branches for open claim space
B82Y and C07F sit far below A61K and C12N in record count. Confirming whether that gap reflects genuine technical difficulty or simply less commercial attention would clarify where a first-mover claim is still realistic.
Compare IPC branches in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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 about LNP formulation patents
Ownership in this corpus is concentrated among a small number of nucleic-acid-delivery specialists and their academic collaborators, several of whom appear repeatedly in both the most-cited records and the co-assignee pairs. The single most-cited record and its close counterpart, both centred on lipid nanoparticle formulations for nucleic acid delivery, anchor the prior art that most freedom-to-operate searches in this space will surface. Because citation counts favor older filings, newer entrants may hold commercially important claims that have not yet accumulated citations.
Filings rose from 117 in 2017 to a peak of 831 in 2024, then declined toward 80 in the most recent partial year, and every tracked leading assignee shows a year-on-year decline of 75% or more. Part of this is a genuine pullback as core claim space around standard four-component formulations fills in, and part is a publication-lag artifact, since patents filed in the last 18 months typically have not published yet. The true 2025-2026 filing rate is therefore likely higher than the raw counts currently show.
The technology composition data shows B82Y nanotechnology applications and C07F organo-metallic chemistry as the thinnest subclasses relative to the corpus total, in contrast to the heavily populated A61K and C12N classes. That imbalance points to formulation approaches outside the conventional ionizable-lipid, phospholipid, sterol and PEG-lipid model, such as non-PEG stabilization strategies or novel organo-metallic lipid backbones, as areas with comparatively less claim density. Thin coverage is not proof of patentability, but it is a reasonable starting point for a novelty search.
Citation counts here should be read as a signal of influence within the searched corpus, not a current importance ranking, because older filings have simply had more time to accumulate citations. The two top-cited records exceed the third-ranked record by several hundred citations, which reflects their foundational role in defining ionizable lipid and LNP composition claims for nucleic acid delivery. A recent filing with few or no citations, like the 2026 polyphenol LNP application in this dataset, can still represent commercially significant new ground.
The PCT route through WIPO leads with 883 filings, ahead of the United States at 831 and the European Patent Office at 645, with Australia, Israel and Canada following at lower volumes. The lead held by PCT filings suggests many applicants are pursuing broad international coverage before committing to specific national phases, which is typical for formulation IP intended to support global biologics manufacturing and distribution rather than a single market.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation 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.