Pacemaker Hermeticity & Implant Durability Patent Snapshot
Activity in pacemaker hermeticity and implant durability is highly concentrated, with Medtronic and Boston Scientific Neuromodulation together commanding the dominant share of filings among the top hundred filers. The field shows signs of easing annual volume, with antenna integration and connector engineering remaining notably sparse relative to core electrotherapy work.
Medtronic leads a two-player tier in a tightly concentrated field
Medtronic Inc holds the top position in the applicant ranking, followed closely by Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp. Together with Cardia Access Inc and MicroPort Sorin CRM (Shanghai) Co Ltd, the top four filers account for a substantial portion of activity among the ranked applicants visible in this query, with the top five collectively holding 65% of the combined patent records of those ranked applicants visible in this query.
The tier gap between the top two incumbents and the rest of the field is material but not absolute — academic entrants such as Duke University, the University of Southern California, and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles each hold single-digit patent record counts, suggesting that research-stage participants have not yet translated into commercial-scale portfolio builders.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medtronic Inc | 39 | |
| 2 | Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp | 37 | |
| 3 | Cardia Access Inc | 12 | |
| 4 | MicroPort Sorin CRM (Shanghai) Co Ltd | 10 | |
| 5 | Duke University | 6 | |
| 6 | University of Southern California | 5 | |
| 7 | Intermedics Inc | 5 | |
| 8 | Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles | 5 | |
| 9 | Pacesetter Inc | 4 | |
| 10 | St. Jude Medical AB | 4 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Walsh Robert G | 3 | |
| 12 | Liquidmetal Technologies Inc | 2 | |
| 13 | BIOTRONIK SE & CO KG | 2 | |
| 14 | Lovoi Paul A | 2 | |
| 15 | Schu Carl A | 2 | |
| 16 | Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research | 2 | |
| 17 | Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology | 2 | |
| 18 | Burdon Jeremy W | 2 | |
| 19 | Williams Terrell M | 2 | |
| 20 | Yamamoto Joyce K | 2 |
The incumbents’ positions imply established freedom-to-operate barriers in core electrotherapy and cardiac sensing architectures. New entrants focused on adjacent hardware — connectors, antennas, capacitor dielectrics — face a less crowded but technically demanding path.
The most recent filing years are subject to publication lag and likely undercount activity from 2024 onward; the apparent zero values for 2025 and 2026 reflect incomplete publication rather than a true halt. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual volume has eased from recent levels; electrotherapy dominates the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field whose core IP architecture is mature and narrowly concentrated by technology class, while adjacent hardware branches remain sparsely covered.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings were relatively stable between 2017 and 2020 before easing in 2021–2023, with a notable uptick recorded in 2024. The 2025 and 2026 bars reflect publication lag and should not be read as a genuine halt; the overall recent-window growth rate is negative at -20%, consistent with a field past its near-term filing peak.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
The A61N electrotherapy and radiation therapy class is visible in the technology mix by a wide margin, with A61B diagnosis and surgery a distant second. Antenna (H01Q), connector (H01R), and capacitor (H01G) classes each represent a small single-digit share, underscoring that hardware integration engineering outside the core therapy delivery architecture is systematically under-filed.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Implantable pulse generator usable during a trial …
An implantable pulse generator (IPG) allowing for trial stimulation in a fully implanted solution is disclosed. At the time the leads are implanted, a micro IPG having lead connection block(s) is also implanted and connected to the leads. To keep the micro IPG suitably small, it preferably does not include a battery, and is instead powered continuously via… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Implantable medical device having shielded and fil… | 307 |
| 2 | Pacemaker | 301 |
| 3 | Atrial aware VVI: a method for atrial synchronous … | 264 |
| 4 | Multilayer ceramic electrodes for sensing cardiac … | 220 |
| 5 | Implantable medical device having shielded and fil… | 218 |
| 6 | Thin film electrodes for sensing cardiac depolariz… | 209 |
| 7 | Cardiac implantable demand pacemaker | 191 |
| 8 | Atrial aware VVI: a method for atrial synchronous … | 165 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Medtronic Inc
Medtronic holds 39 patent records in this topic, anchoring its portfolio in A61N 1 electrotherapy (38 records) with a secondary emphasis on A61B 5 diagnostic and surgical methods (24 records) and H01G 4 capacitor technology (4 records). This broad multi-class footprint reflects a systems-level approach to implant durability, covering therapy delivery, physiological sensing, and energy storage components. No momentum trend is flagged for Medtronic in the recent-window data, suggesting a stable rather than accelerating near-term filing posture.
patent records: 39Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp
Boston Scientific Neuromodulation holds 37 patent records, nearly matching the leader. Its portfolio concentrates on A61N 1 electrotherapy (34 records) and H01Q 1 antenna technology (10 records) — a distinctive pairing that signals a strategic emphasis on wireless telemetry and electromagnetic compatibility within the implant housing. This antenna focus is the sharpest technology differentiation visible between the top two filers and may reflect development of leadless or wireless-charging pacemaker architectures.
patent records: 37Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 25 patent families in scope. Applicant ranking and technology branch counts are reported at the patent-record level, where a single family filing across multiple jurisdictions or IPC classes can generate more than one record.
Medtronic Inc leads the applicant ranking with 39 patent records among the ranked applicants visible in this query, followed by Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp with 37 patent records.
A61N (electrotherapy and radiation therapy) is the visible IPC class with 134 patent records, far ahead of A61B (diagnosis and surgery) at 25. All ranked applicants with technology data show primary focus in A61N 1.
The evidence characterizes the field as Decline, with annual filings easing back from their recent peak and a recent-window growth rate of -20%. The 2024 uptick and the zero values for 2025–2026 should be interpreted cautiously given publication lag.
The United States leads with 55 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) each at 27, Australia at 12, and Canada at 9. China and India each have only 1 patent record, representing notably thin coverage given the presence of MicroPort Sorin CRM (Shanghai) among the top filers.
Three organizations are flagged as new entrants in the recent filing window: MicroPort Sorin CRM (Shanghai) Co Ltd (with 3 recent patent records), Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. All three had no prior filing history in this topic within the evidence period, making their entry strategically notable despite small absolute counts.
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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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