Scalp health and anti-dandruff patents: who holds the ground and where it is still open
46.8% of all 1,157 records sit with the five leading assignees, a concentration that makes freedom-to-operate checks non-optional before filing near zinc pyrithione or antifungal actives. Filings peaked at 90 in 2017 and moved to 7 by 2026, though the last two years are still filling in given typical publication lag. Over the most recent complete span, 2021 to 2024, filings fell from 46 to 33 — a 28% decline that should be read as a plateau in a mature filing area rather than a collapse in interest.
- 1SEDERMA SA172
- 2CLARIANT INT LTD110
- 3UNILEVER NV91
- 4DSM IP ASSETS BV87
- 5UNILEVER PLC81
See the full scalp health and anti-dandruff 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 about this landscape
Who are the leading patent holders in anti-dandruff and scalp health?
The dataset ranks 100 assignees, with the top-ranked holder at 172 records and the fifth-ranked at 81 — together the top five account for 46.8% of all 1,157 records in scope. This is a concentrated field: the top ten combined reach 66.8% of records, leaving the remaining ninety ranked assignees to share the rest. Most of the leading holders are established personal-care or specialty-ingredient suppliers with long-running filing programmes rather than recent entrants.
Is anti-dandruff patent filing activity growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked at 90 records in 2017 and has since settled lower, with the most recent complete span — 2021 to 2024 — showing a decline from 46 to 33 records, a 28% drop. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of a continued fall. The honest read is a plateau in a mature filing area, not a shrinking one.
Are these patents mostly cosmetic or pharmaceutical in nature?
Overwhelmingly cosmetic in framing: 88.0% of the 1,157 records carry A61K (medicinal preparations) classification and 64.4% carry A61Q (cosmetics use), while only 16.3% carry A61P (therapeutic activity of compounds). That gap indicates most protected inventions are formulation and use claims aimed at cosmetic outcomes like flake reduction and scalp comfort, rather than claims built around a specific therapeutic mechanism. A record can carry more than one of these classes, which is why the shares add to more than 100%.
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 Scalp Health and Anti-Dandruff 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.