Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- 62.1% concentration. the top five assignees combined account for 6,674 of the 10,741 records in scope, so the core chemistry claim space is already heavily staked out.
- Filings cooled from a 2022 peak. the field peaked at 519 filings in 2022, and the complete-year comparison shows 2021's 488 filings falling to 300 by 2024, a -39% move.
- Leader momentum is fading, not growing. the top filer's own latest-year count fell 79% year-on-year, a pattern echoed across the other leading assignees rather than a single outlier.
Filing growth compares 2021 (488 records) with 2024 (300) — 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 10,741 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 10,741 published patent records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026 that address silicone hydrogel contact lens materials — claims touching oxygen permeability, surface wettability, lens modulus, lipid deposition, water content and edge design. The scope spans the polymer chemistry itself (addition and condensation polymer classes) as well as the optical and ophthalmic device classes the lenses sit inside, so a single filing can and often does carry claims across several of these fronts at once.
Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity; 2024 is the last year that can be read as a complete picture of filing behaviour.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The record set breaks down by filing year, by IPC subclass and by receiving office, giving three independent views of where activity concentrates and where it has thinned out.
A cooling cycle after a 2022 high
Filings ran at 435 in 2017, climbed to a peak of 519 in 2022, then eased to 300 by 2024 — a -39% move from 2021's 488. The 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline.
Optics and lens classes dominate, polymer chemistry underpins them
G02B (optical elements) and G02C (spectacles and lenses) each cover roughly half of all records — 51.1% and 45.7% respectively — while the polymer chemistry classes (C08F, C08G, C08L, C08J) and the manufacturing class B29D each sit in the 9-29% range, reflecting the fact that most filings pair a device-level claim with an underlying material or process claim.
Shares are the percentage of the 10,741 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about silicone hydrogel contact lens materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art anchoring this field
US8480227B2 — Silicone hydrogel lenses with water-rich surfaces
The invention describes a hydrated silicone hydrogel contact lens with a layered structure: a lower-water-content silicone hydrogel core fully covered by a higher-water-content, largely silicone-free hydrogel layer. The construction targets high oxygen permeability for corneal health alongside a soft, lubricious, water-rich surface for wearing comfort.Assigned to Alcon Inc., published 2013-07-09.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4136250A | Polysiloxane hydrogels | 2,090 |
| 2 | US5070215A | Novel vinyl carbonate and vinyl carbamate contact lens material monomers | 1,581 |
| 3 | US5358995A | Surface wettable silicone hydrogels | 1,116 |
| 4 | US4260725A | Hydrophilic contact lens made from polysiloxanes which are thermally bonded to polymerizable groups and which… | 1,111 |
| 5 | US20040039298A1 | Noninvasive measurement of chemical substances | 1,101 |
| 6 | US6822016B2 | Biomedical devices containing internal wetting agents | 1,039 |
| 7 | US5314960A | Silicone-containing polymers, oxygen permeable hydrophilic contact lenses and methods for making these lenses… | 921 |
| 8 | US4910277A | Hydrophilic oxygen permeable polymers | 914 |
| 9 | US5371147A | Silicone-containing acrylic star polymers, block copolymers and macromonomers | 895 |
| 10 | US5010141A | Reactive silicone and/or fluorine containing hydrophilic prepolymers and polymers thereof | 867 |
Ranked by citation count within the searched corpus; older foundational patents accumulate citations over time, so treat this as a signal of influence rather than of current filing activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are set against their denominators: concentration at the top, a cooling filing curve, and an IPC composition that shows where claims cluster versus where they thin out.
The core chemistry is already claimed by a handful of firms
Six of every ten records in scope trace to just five assignees. A new entrant working on core silicone hydrogel chemistry — bulk modulus, base monomer chemistry, oxygen permeability mechanisms — is filing directly into territory the leaders have already covered many times over.
The complete-year trend points down from a 2022 peak
Filings peaked at 519 in 2022 and eased through 2024. Because 2025-2026 data is still incomplete under the roughly 18-month publication lag, this reading should stop at 2024 rather than extend into the partial years.
Optical and lens classes carry the bulk of claims, chemistry classes trail
Just over half of all records touch G02B (optical elements) and nearly as many touch G02C (spectacles and lenses), while the polymer chemistry classes sit well below 30% each — a signature of a field where device-level claims dominate and material composition claims ride alongside them.
Every major incumbent is filing less, not more
The recent-year momentum figures show the leading assignees each posting sharp year-on-year declines in their latest filing counts, several approaching zero. This is consistent with a maturing claim landscape rather than a single company's retreat.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to silicone hydrogel contact lens materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it opens up
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies counted by records; it is the full ranking the dataset returns, not a curated top list. Ownership concentrates hard at the front and thins quickly after the leading names.
A single firm holds close to double its nearest rival
The top-ranked assignee's record count is roughly double the fifth-place figure of 963, underscoring how front-loaded this field is even within the leading group.
The tail thins sharply after the top five
Fifth place holds 963 records; tenth place holds 102 — a steep drop that shows most of the sustained, multi-year filing activity sits with a small cluster of firms rather than spreading evenly across the ranked 100.
Co-assignment is limited and mostly intra-group
The strongest co-assignee pairs link related corporate entities under the same parent rather than independent partners, suggesting cross-company joint filing is rare in this space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon Inc. | 7 | -79% |
| CooperVision International Ltd. | 2 | -95% |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. | 1 | -96% |
| Novartis AG | 0 | — |
| Bausch & Lomb Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| CooperVision International Holding Company LP | 0 | — |
| Menicon Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Ciba Geigy AG | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to two practical next steps for a team deciding where to file or partner.
Map claim boundaries around the cited foundational patents
The most-cited records anchor core silicone hydrogel and vinyl carbonate/carbamate monomer chemistry; a freedom-to-operate review should start from these before scoping new formulation work.
Explore prior art in EurekaTrack the leaders' slowing filing pace against your own roadmap
With every leading assignee posting sharp year-on-year declines, a competitive filing gap may be opening in adjacent branches like surface treatment and edge design rather than core chemistry.
Run a live assignee search in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
Filing activity is concentrated among a small group of assignees, with the top five combined accounting for 62.1% of the 10,741 records in scope. The leading assignee alone holds roughly double the record count of the fifth-ranked firm, and the gap widens further by the tenth position. This concentration means most sustained, multi-year filing activity in this field traces back to a handful of established ophthalmic device and materials companies rather than being spread across many smaller filers.
Filings rose from 435 in 2017 to a peak of 519 in 2022, then declined to 300 by 2024, a -39% move over that three-year span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as continued decline. Based on the complete-year data through 2024, the honest read is a cooling trend from a 2022 high rather than an accelerating one.
Records split across optical and device-level classes and underlying polymer chemistry classes. G02B (optical elements and systems) and G02C (spectacles and lenses) each cover roughly half of all records, at 51.1% and 45.7% respectively, while polymer chemistry classes such as C08F, C08G, C08L and C08J each account for under 30% individually. Since a single filing often carries claims in both a device class and a chemistry class, the shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
US8480227B2, assigned to Alcon and published in 2013, claims a hydrated silicone hydrogel contact lens with a layered structure — a lower-water-content silicone hydrogel core fully covered by a higher-water-content, largely silicone-free surface layer. The design targets high oxygen permeability from the core alongside a soft, lubricious wearing surface. It is a representative example of the layered water-content approach that recurs across the most-cited records in this field, making it a useful reference point for freedom-to-operate review around surface treatment claims.
The core chemistry — base silicone hydrogel formulation, bulk modulus control, oxygen permeability mechanisms — is heavily claimed by the leading assignees, who together hold 62.1% of all records. Lighter filing density shows up in more specific branches such as lipid-resistant surface treatments, graded water-content layering, edge-profile comfort design and non-silicone hydrophilic surface coatings. These sub-areas sit inside the same IPC classes as the crowded core but carry fewer dense, overlapping claims, making them a more realistic entry point for new filings.
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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.