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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/novel-small-molecule-modalities-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Biopharma & Drug DiscoveryNovel Small-Molecule Modalities Patents: Who Holds the Ground and Where It's Open
- 24.5% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees account for 10,512 of the 42,889 records in scope, yet the ranked list still runs to 100 companies with a long tail below them.
- Filings cooled from a 2022 peak. Output rose to 1,020 records in 2022 before easing to 640 by 2024, a -36% move over the 2021-2024 span — read the last two years as still filling in, not as a verdict.
- Peptide and antibody claims dominate the class map. A61K and C07K each cover roughly a third of records, while C07H sugars/nucleic acids sits under 10%, marking it as comparatively open ground.
42.9K
Published Records
25%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-36%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (994 records) with 2024 (640) — 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 42,889 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
This dataset gathers 42,889 published records filed against small-molecule therapeutic and drug-discovery language paired with terms like differentiation marker, molecular scaffold, tissue regeneration and lead compound. It spans filings from 2015 through the 2026-08-31 cut-off, capturing both classic small-molecule chemistry and the newer conjugate and modality work — siRNA-small molecule constructs, antibody-drug pairings, and enzyme-based syntheses — that increasingly shares claim space with it. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years understate true filing activity.
The receiving-office mix skews heavily toward the United States, with the PCT route and Europe each drawing roughly comparable volumes behind it — a pattern consistent with a field where global-phase strategy still follows a US-anchored priority filing.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 42,889-record corpus: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings climbed from 526 in 2017 to a peak of 1,020 in 2022, then eased to 640 by 2024 — a -36% move across that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures (39 in the latest partial year) are still incomplete because of publication lag and should not be read as a decline.
IPC subclass composition
A61K (medicinal preparations) leads at 34.6% of the 42,889 records, followed by C07K (peptides & proteins) at 29.3% and C12N (microorganisms & genetic engineering) at 21.7%. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100%; C07H (sugars & nucleic acids), at 8.1%, is the smallest of the eight tracked classes and marks the thinnest claim density among them.
Shares are the percentage of the 42,889 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 Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited prior art in this corpus
Representative Recent Filing
A siRNA drug, pharmaceutical composition, and siRNA-small molecule drug conjugate
SIRNAOMICS BIOPHARMACEUTICALS (SUZHOU) CO., LTD.
Filed by Sirnaomics Biopharmaceuticals (Suzhou), this 2024 application claims a siRNA-based drug and a siRNA-small molecule drug conjugate that targets influenza replication genes, delivered by inhalation to the lower respiratory tract and lungs. It illustrates how conjugate chemistry is being layered onto small-molecule delivery formats rather than replacing them.Representative of the conjugate-modality filings entering this corpus since 2023.
Most-cited records
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US8354509B2 | Antibodies to human programmed death receptor PD-1 | 2,751 |
| 2 | US20060104968A1 | Soluble glycosaminoglycanases and methods of preparing and using soluble glycosaminogly ycanases | 2,619 |
| 3 | US20050260186A1 | Soluble glycosaminoglycanases and methods of preparing and using soluble glycosaminoglycanases | 2,362 |
| 4 | WO2008156712A1 | Antibodies to human programmed death receptor PD-1 | 2,022 |
| 5 | WO2011028683A1 | Anti-GITR antibodies | 1,626 |
| 6 | WO1999015154A1 | Methods for fabricating polymer-based controlled release preparations | 1,370 |
| 7 | WO2007042261A2 | Compositions comprising cross-species-specific antibodies and uses thereof | 1,079 |
| 8 | US9446226B2 | Drug-delivering composite structures | 804 |
| 9 | WO2007002433A1 | Pyrrolo [2, 3-b] pyridine derivatives as protein kinase inhibitors | 792 |
| 10 | US8900587B2 | Antibodies to human programmed death receptor PD-1 | 739 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence on the field rather than of current commercial relevance.
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 Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data says about direction of travel
Three read-outs from the filing and citation data that matter for anyone deciding where to file next or who to watch.
Concentration
24.5%
of 42,889 records held by top 5
The top of the field is concentrated but not closed
Five assignees hold 10,512 of the 42,889 records in scope — a quarter of the field — while the ranked list extends to 100 companies. That combination points to a field with a strong core group of repeat filers sitting above a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants.
Ranking covers 100 companies, not a top-50 or top-100 cut.
Momentum
-36%
filing change, 2021 to 2024
Volume has cooled from its 2022 high
Filings peaked at 1,020 records in 2022 and had fallen to 640 by 2024, a -36% move over that span. The most recent years in the chart (2025-2026) are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read alongside this figure as a continuation of the decline.
2024 is the most recent year treated as complete.
Claim density
34.6%
of records carry an A61K class
Medicinal-preparation claims dominate the class map
A61K and C07K together cover a majority of records when counted separately, reflecting how heavily small-molecule and peptide/protein claim language overlaps in this corpus. C07H sugars and nucleic acids, at 8.1%, carries far less claim density.
Class shares sum above 100% because records carry multiple IPC codes.
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to novel small-molecule modalities patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Who's Filing
Leaders, momentum and the open ground between them
The ranked leaders sit well ahead of the tail, but recent-year momentum data shows even some of the largest historical filers pulling back sharply.
Leader
7,060
records, single largest assignee
One filer holds a clear lead
The leading assignee's record count is more than nine times the tenth-place figure of 496, showing a steep drop-off rather than a gradual one once you move past the top few names.
Fifth place holds 725 records.
Recent momentum
-86% to -93%
YoY change among several tracked leaders
Even historical leaders are filing less this year
Several assignees with substantial historical filing counts show sharp year-over-year drops in the latest tracked year, alongside others now at zero. That pattern is consistent with publication lag rather than necessarily a real pullback, but it means recent-year rankings should be read cautiously.
Latest-year counts are still filling in due to publication lag.
Collaboration
232
shared filings, strongest co-assignee pair
A small set of co-filing pairs stands out
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the data, with the strongest pairing sharing 232 records and two related pairings close behind. Co-filing is the exception here, not the norm, in a field otherwise dominated by single-assignee filings.
10 co-assignee pairs identified in total.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Kymera Therapeutics | 2 | -86% |
| Genentech | 1 | -93% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1 | -91% |
| CURAGEN CORP | 0 | — |
| Amgen | 0 | — |
| SPYTEK KIMBERLY A | 0 | — |
| GODDARD AUDREY | 0 | — |
| LI LI | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this next
The figures above answer where the field stands; the next questions are what to do inside it.
Map a freedom-to-operate position against the leaders
With 24.5% of records held by five assignees, a claim-by-claim review of their granted families is the fastest way to find where a new filing would actually collide.
Explore assignee claim scope in Eureka →Check the under-claimed branches for real openness
Thin IPC coverage in areas like C07H sugars and nucleic acids is a starting signal, not a conclusion — it needs a targeted prior-art pull before committing scope.
Run a white-space search in Eureka →Track momentum shifts before they show up in rankings
Publication lag means the last one to two years of filings are undercounted; a monitoring watch on key assignees catches shifts before the annual ranking does.
Set up assignee monitoring in Eureka →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
The ranked list covers 100 companies, with the single leading assignee holding 7,060 records, well ahead of fifth place at 725 and tenth place at 496. The top five combined account for 24.5% of all 42,889 records in scope, showing a concentrated core group sitting above a long tail of smaller filers. Because the ranking is built on the whole dataset returned by the search, it should not be treated as a curated top-50 or top-100 list — it is the full ranked set the data endpoint returns.
Filings rose steadily to a peak of 1,020 records in 2022, then fell to 640 by 2024, a -36% change across that three-year window. The years after 2024 in the trend chart look lower still, but that is largely an artefact of publication lag — patents filed in 2025 and 2026 typically have not published yet. Treat 2024 as the most recent year with a reasonably complete count, and be cautious reading any decline into 2025-2026 figures.
A61K, medicinal preparations, appears in 34.6% of the 42,889 records, the highest of the tracked IPC subclasses, followed by C07K peptides and proteins at 29.3% and C12N microorganisms and genetic engineering at 21.7%. These shares overlap because a single record can carry several IPC codes, so they are not meant to sum to 100%. C07H, sugars and nucleic acids, is the thinnest of the eight tracked classes at 8.1%, making it a comparatively open area relative to the rest of the corpus.
This 2024 filing from Sirnaomics Biopharmaceuticals claims a siRNA drug, a pharmaceutical composition built on it, and a siRNA-small molecule drug conjugate aimed at inhibiting influenza replication genes via inhalable delivery to the lower respiratory tract. Anyone working on conjugate constructs that pair siRNA targeting with small-molecule delivery in a similar inhalable format needs to review its specific claim scope before finalising a formulation. It is one filing among many recent conjugate-modality applications entering this corpus, not a single blocking reference for the whole space.
The IPC composition data points to C07H, sugars and nucleic acids, and C12P, fermentation and enzymatic synthesis, as the least densely claimed of the eight tracked classes, both under 12% of the 42,889 records. Co-assignee data also shows collaboration is rare, with only 10 identified co-filing pairs, suggesting most white space has not been claimed jointly either. These are starting signals for a targeted prior-art search, not a guarantee of freedom to operate, since thin IPC coverage can also mean a technology is simply newer or harder to classify.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Novel Small-Molecule Modalities Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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.