Tangential Flow Filtration Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Tangential flow filtration and diafiltration patents: who holds the claims and where they are thinning out
40.9% of all 1,106 records sit with just five assignees — a genuinely concentrated field for a purification process technology. Annual filings rose from 18 in 2017 to a peak of 97 in 2023. Using 2024 as the last complete year, filings fell from 84 in 2021 to 57 in 2024, a 32% decline over that span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so they should not be read as a continuation of that decline yet.
- 1REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS INC128
- 2AMGEN INC121
- 3EMD MILLIPORE CORP103
- 4GENENTECH INC65
- 5GENZYME CORP35
See the full tangential flow filtration diafiltration 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 on this landscape
Who holds the most patents in tangential flow filtration and diafiltration?
The ranked assignee list shows a clear leader with 128 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 35 and the tenth-place holder at 19. The top five assignees combined hold 452 of the 1,106 records in scope, or 40.9%, and the top ten hold 579, or 52.4%. This is a concentrated field: large biologics manufacturers and at least one dedicated filtration-hardware specialist account for the bulk of filings, while the remainder of the ranked 100 companies file far fewer records each.
Is patent filing in TFF and diafiltration still growing?
Filings rose from 18 in 2017 to a peak of 97 in 2023, then using 2024 as the last complete year, fell from 84 filings in 2021 to 57 in 2024, a 32% decline. That points to a cooling rather than an accelerating field through the last complete filing year. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so it is too early to call the more recent years a continued decline.
What does US11278827B2 actually cover?
US11278827B2, held by EMD Millipore Corporation and granted in 2022, covers methods of filtering a liquid feed using single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF), including recovering retentate and permeate into separate containers without recirculation, and a second version that recirculates part of the retentate through the TFF system at least once. It sits within the B01D separation-process claim territory that covers 61.3% of records in this landscape. Anyone designing a single-pass TFF process with partial retentate recirculation should review this claim set specifically before finalising a process flow.
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 Tangential Flow Filtration Diafiltration 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.