Meniscus and Cartilage Repair Patents: Who Files, Where Filing Is Slowing, and Where It Isn't
Filing dropped 58% from 2021 to 2024, the last complete year in the dataset, after a 2019 peak of 226 filings. Filings ran from 170 in 2017 to a peak of 226 in 2019, then declined to 6 in 2026 (a partial year). The only growth figure safe to quote is the 2021-to-2024 span: 106 filings down to 45, a 58% drop over that complete three-year window. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a continued decline.
- 1MERCK PATENT GMBH5.1%
- 2NOVARTIS AG4.2%
- 3CETERIX ORTHOPAEDICS INC3.9%
- 4JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY3.1%
- 5SMITH & NEPHEW INC2.6%
See the full meniscus and cartilage repair 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 on meniscus and cartilage repair patents
How many patents cover meniscus and cartilage repair?
This dataset identifies 3,322 published patent families matching meniscus repair, cartilage repair and meniscal implant search terms between 2015 and mid-2026. That figure counts families rather than raw documents, which avoids inflating the count through continuations or multi-jurisdiction filings of the same invention. It covers both mechanical fixation devices and biologic scaffold or cell-therapy approaches, since the search terms span both.
Who are the leading patent filers in meniscus and cartilage repair?
The leading assignee in the ranking holds 168 records, with the top 5 assignees combined holding 18.8% of all 3,322 records in scope and the top 10 combined reaching 29.7%. That leaves the majority of records spread across a long tail of the remaining ranked companies, so the field is not dominated by one or two filers in the way some device categories are. The full ranking includes both large diversified medical companies and specialist orthopaedic and biotech filers.
Is patent filing in meniscus and cartilage repair increasing or slowing down?
Filings peaked at 226 in 2019 and fell over the following years, with the last complete comparison — 2021 to 2024 — showing a 58% drop from 106 to 45 filings. The near-zero figures for 2025 and 2026 are not evidence of a stopped field; publication lags actual filing by roughly 18 months, so recent years are still filling in. Judge momentum on the 2019-to-2024 window, not on the most recent two years shown in any chart.
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 Meniscus and Cartilage Repair 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.