NGS Technology Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has cooled since the 2018 peak. 183 families published that year against 130 at the 2022 midpoint and just 5 so far in the most recent partial year — a plateau, not a collapse, once publication lag is priced in.
- Claim density sits overwhelmingly in enzymatic and DNA measurement methods. 1,352 of 1,469 records touch C12Q, dwarfing the 230 in general material analysis (G01N) and the 228 in bioinformatics (G16B), which points to where the open ground actually is.
- The strongest co-assignee pairs are internal group filings, not cross-company alliances. The top pairings (41 and 37 shared families) link an assignee to its own subsidiary, meaning the visible collaboration signal in this dataset is corporate structure, not partnership.
Filing growth compares 2021 (153 records) with 2024 (86) — 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 1,469 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the filing record shows
Next-generation sequencing patenting spans a search built on read length, error rate, library preparation, flow cell and base calling claim language, layered onto IPC classes for enzymatic DNA measurement, genetic engineering and material analysis. Across 1,469 patent families filed since 2015, the dataset captures both the platform-defining nanopore and sequencing-by-synthesis claims and the narrower method patents around sample prep and signal processing that sit underneath them.
Filing peaked in 2018 and has since settled onto a lower, flatter plateau through the 2022 midpoint, with the final years understated by the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication. The receiving-office spread — led by the United States, then Europe and the WIPO PCT route, with China, Canada and Australia further behind — shows a technology still being prosecuted mainly through the traditional US/EP/PCT filing corridor rather than shifting toward China-first strategies.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The two charts below read the same dataset from different angles: one tracks when families were filed, the other where those families sit across the IPC classification scheme.
A 2018 peak followed by a plateau
Annual publications ran at 133 in 2017, rose to a peak of 183 in 2018, and held near 130 by the 2022 midpoint before tapering toward the incomplete final year — consistent with a maturing filing base rather than an active gold rush.
Enzymatic DNA measurement dominates the class mix
C12Q claims appear in 1,352 of 1,469 records, far ahead of C12N genetic engineering (503), G01N material analysis (230), G16B bioinformatics (228) and C40B combinatorial libraries (222) — a concentration that says most of the drafting effort has gone into assay and measurement method claims rather than the informatics layer around them.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,469 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Next-Generation Sequencing Technology with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about next-generation sequencing technology and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this space
WO2023230279A1 — Quality measurement of base calling in next generation sequencing
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method for predicting quality of base calling in sequencing. A plurality of predictors may be selected and a corresponding value for each of the plurality of predictors may be determined from one or more flow cell images. A quality score may be determined from a look-up table based on the corresponding value for each of the plurality of predictors, wherein the look-up table comprises a plurality of dimensions corresponding to the plurality of predictors and is generated based on a training data set.Filed by Element Biosciences and published 2023-11-30, this filing sits at the intersection of flow cell imaging and base-calling quality scoring — a narrower, more computational claim style than the platform-level nanopore patents that dominate the citation table.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2011140510A2 | Oligonucleotide ligation, barcoding and methods and compositions for improving data quality and throughput us… | 160 |
| 2 | US9416409B2 | Capture primers and capture sequence linked solid supports for molecular diagnostic tests | 150 |
| 3 | US8652779B2 | Nanopore sequencing using charge blockade labels | 146 |
| 4 | US20130231253A1 | Compositions and methods for targeted nucleic acid sequence enrichment and high efficiency library regenerati… | 127 |
| 5 | US9546400B2 | Nanopore sequencing using n-mers | 123 |
| 6 | WO2010117470A2 | Nanopore sequencing devices and methods | 120 |
| 7 | WO2013185137A1 | Modified base detection with nanopore sequencing | 116 |
| 8 | US9017937B1 | Nanopore sequencing using ratiometric impedance | 115 |
| 9 | US20130079251A1 | Systems and Methods for Processing Fluids | 113 |
| 10 | US20150011396A1 | Methods for creating directional bisulfite-converted nucleic acid libraries for next generation sequencing | 108 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older nanopore and library-prep filings lead the table; treat them as markers of influence on later drafting, not as evidence that the technology they cover is still the newest available.
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Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are set against each other: where claim density sits, how filings have moved over time, and what the co-filing pairs actually represent.
Measurement and assay claims crowd the center
Nearly all records touch C12Q enzymatic/DNA measurement claims, while G16B bioinformatics appears in only 228 — a roughly six-to-one gap that suggests the analytical software layer sitting on top of sequencing data is far less densely claimed than the wet-lab and instrument methods beneath it.
A plateau, read carefully
The drop to 5 in the final year is a publication-lag artifact rather than a real stop in filing activity; the more informative comparison is 2018's peak of 183 against 2022's 130, which shows real cooling well before the most recent year comes into view.
Collaboration signals are mostly internal
The strongest co-assignee pairings link an entity to its own affiliate rather than to an external partner, and momentum data shows several major assignees at 0 filings and -100% year-over-year in the latest period — a sign of filing programs winding down or shifting jurisdictions rather than new entrants stepping in.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to next-generation sequencing technology, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Illumina, Inc. | Illumina Cambridge Ltd. | 41 |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd | Roche Diagnostics GmbH | 37 |
| ROCHE SEQUENCING SOLUTIONS INC | F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd | 16 |
| BGI-Shenzhen Institute of Life Sciences | BGI-Shenzhen Co., Ltd. | 16 |
| ROCHE SEQUENCING SOLUTIONS INC | Roche Diagnostics GmbH | 12 |
| The Regents of the University of California | Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) | 6 |
| The Regents of the University of California | ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ACTING FOR & ON BEHALF OF NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIV | 6 |
| ROCHE SEQUENCING SOLUTIONS INC | Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. | 5 |
Every one of the strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset links related corporate entities, not independent companies jointly developing technology — useful context before reading any pairing as a partnership signal.
Who holds the claim space
Filing activity concentrates among a small group of sequencing platform makers and their affiliates, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants behind them. Recent momentum figures show the leading names pulling back sharply rather than accelerating.
Leading filers have gone quiet in the latest data
Several of the historically largest assignees in this dataset — spanning both platform and reagent chemistry filings — show zero filings in the latest year and a full year-over-year drop, a pattern more consistent with mature portfolios and publication lag than with exit from the field.
Corporate groups file jointly with themselves
The two strongest co-assignee relationships in the corpus both connect a parent to its own subsidiary, which means cross-company technology sharing is harder to read directly from co-assignment data here than portfolio structure is.
US-first prosecution still dominates
The United States receives substantially more filings than the EPO or the WIPO PCT route, with China, Canada and Australia trailing well behind — a filing geography that has not yet rebalanced toward China despite that country's growing genomics manufacturing base.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Illumina, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Illumina Cambridge Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| ROCHE SEQUENCING SOLUTIONS INC | 0 | -100% |
| Twist Bioscience Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Element Biosciences, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Nugen Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
| BGI-Shenzhen Institute of Life Sciences | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The landscape data points to specific follow-up questions depending on whether the reader is drafting claims, clearing freedom to operate, or scouting acquisition targets.
Map claim scope inside C12Q before drafting
With 1,352 of 1,469 records touching C12Q, any new filing in enzymatic DNA measurement needs a tight prior-art search inside that subclass specifically, not just at the whole-corpus level.
Explore C12Q claim scope in EurekaCheck freedom to operate against the highest-cited records
The most-cited patents in this corpus — spanning nanopore labeling, barcoding and enrichment methods — are the ones most likely to have descendant continuation filings still in force.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTrack affiliate filing structures, not just company names
Because the strongest co-assignee pairs here are internal corporate relationships, a portfolio search organized by ultimate parent will surface consolidation that a name-only search misses.
Trace assignee family trees in EurekaCommon questions about NGS patents
This dataset identifies 1,469 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that match claim language around read length, error rate, library preparation, flow cell design and base calling, filtered to IPC classes covering enzymatic DNA measurement, genetic engineering and material analysis. Not every family remains in force, since some will have lapsed or been abandoned since filing. The figure is best read as the scope of documented inventive activity in the space rather than a live enforceable-rights count, which requires a separate legal-status check on any family of interest.
Filings peaked at 183 in 2018 and settled to roughly 130 by 2022, which reflects a maturing technology base rather than declining commercial interest in sequencing itself. Early platform patents around nanopore chemistry and sequencing-by-synthesis methods were filed heavily in the mid-2010s as the core techniques were established, and later filing activity has shifted toward narrower method and software claims layered on top of those platforms. The apparent drop in the final one to two years is also partly a publication-lag artifact, since patent applications typically publish around 18 months after filing.
The most-cited records in this corpus include filings on oligonucleotide barcoding for massively parallel sequencing, capture-primer diagnostics, and nanopore sequencing using charge-blockade labels and n-mer detection, with citation counts ranging from 123 to 160 within this search. High citation counts favor older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citing references, so they signal historical influence on how later claims were drafted rather than which patents matter most today. A current competitive view should combine citation data with recent filing momentum by assignee.
The IPC composition shows a heavy skew toward C12Q enzymatic and DNA measurement claims (1,352 of 1,469 records), while bioinformatics (G16B, 228 records) and combinatorial library synthesis (C40B, 222 records) are comparatively thin. Sub-areas such as base-calling quality scoring from flow cell imagery, error-rate correction pipelines, and sample-to-answer library preparation automation show fewer dense prior-art clusters relative to the core measurement claims. That does not guarantee an easy grant, but it does mean less crowded claim space to search before drafting.
Not yet, based on receiving-office data in this dataset: the United States leads with 477 filings, ahead of Europe's 291 and the WIPO PCT route's 254, with China at 76 — well behind Canada's 87 and Australia's 89. This suggests that despite China's expanding genomics manufacturing and research base, the dominant prosecution strategy for NGS-related inventions in this corpus still runs through the US, European and PCT systems rather than direct Chinese filing.
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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.