Tangential Flow Filtration Membrane Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- 29.7% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees hold 719 of 2,424 records in scope, a narrow band for a field this operationally broad.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 183 records and has since eased to 96 in 2024 (down 30% from 138 in 2021), though 2025-26 counts are still filling in as publication catches up with filing.
- B01D separation claims cover 65.3% of records while therapeutic-activity framing (A61P) sits at just 8.3%, pointing to where membrane-selection claims are rarely tied to clinical outcome data.
Filing growth compares 2021 (138 records) with 2024 (96) — 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 2,424 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Tangential flow filtration membrane selection sits at the intersection of separation engineering and biologics manufacturing. Patents in scope combine crossflow hardware claims — pore size, molecular cutoff, shear tolerance — with biological application claims spanning cell culture, protein purification and viral vector recovery. The search string ties membrane chemistry and extractables language to the underlying B01D61/14, B01D63/00 and C12N5/00 classifications, which is why separation-process and microorganism-engineering classes dominate the composition figures below.
2,424 records fall inside the coverage window from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. The assignee ranking returned by the data endpoint lists 100 companies, not the full applicant population, so read concentration figures against that ranked set rather than against every filer that has ever touched the space.
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Filing trend and technology mix
The two views below cover the same 2,424 records from different angles: one tracks when filings published, the other shows which IPC subclasses those filings carry.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 68 in 2017 to a peak of 183 in 2020, then eased toward 96 in 2024 — a 30% pullback from the 2021 level of 138. Counts for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months; treat the tail of the trend as a floor, not a ceiling.
IPC subclass composition
B01D (separation processes) appears on 65.3% of records and C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) on 46.3%, confirming that most filings pair hardware claims with a biological process. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares sum to well over 100% and should not be added together.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,424 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Tangential Flow Filtration Membrane Selection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about tangential flow filtration membrane selection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim in this space
Processes for filtering liquids using single pass tangential flow filtration systems and tangential flow filtration systems with recirculation of retentate
Methods of filtering a liquid feed are disclosed. In one version, the method comprises passing a liquid feed through a single pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) system and recovering the retentate and permeate from the system in separate containers without recirculation through the SPTFF system. In another version, the method comprises passing a liquid feed through a TFF system, recovering permeate and a portion of the retentate in separate containers without recirculation, and recirculating the remainder of the retentate through the TFF system at least once.Filed by EMD Millipore Corporation; granted as US11278827B2, 2022-03-22.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100324120A1 | Lipid formulation | 750 |
| 2 | WO1999011764A2 | Methods for generating high titer helper-free preparations of recombinant AAV vectors | 385 |
| 3 | US5601727A | Device and method for separating plasma from a biological fluid | 366 |
| 4 | US6852219B2 | Fluid separation and delivery apparatus and method | 295 |
| 5 | US5256294A | Tangential flow filtration process and apparatus | 236 |
| 6 | US5217627A | System and method for processing biological fluid | 217 |
| 7 | US6139746A | Method and apparatus for purification of biological substances | 197 |
| 8 | US5879715A | Process and system for production of inorganic nanoparticles | 181 |
| 9 | US7612250B2 | Nuclear transfer embryo formation method | 172 |
| 10 | US5490937A | Tangential flow filtration process and apparatus | 171 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial weight.
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 from the dataset matter more than any single ranking: where activity has concentrated, how it has moved over time, and which claim types dominate.
A narrow leading group, not a monopoly
The five leading assignees account for 719 of 2,424 records in scope, and the top ten add up to 43.2% (1,048 records). That leaves more than half the field to a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants, which is unusual concentration to build a freedom-to-operate view around without checking the tail directly.
Filing has pulled back from its 2020 peak
Activity peaked at 183 records in 2020 and has since eased to 96 by 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete. That is a real pullback, not a rounding artefact, though it says nothing about 2025-26 yet since publication lag means those years are still filling in.
Hardware claims dominate over therapeutic framing
Two-thirds of records carry a B01D separation-process class, while only 8.3% carry A61P therapeutic-activity language. Most membrane-selection patents are being filed as process and apparatus claims rather than as clinical-outcome claims, which shapes how a novelty search should be scoped.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to tangential flow filtration membrane selection, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is still open
The ranked assignee list runs 100 companies deep, counted by record. Momentum in the most recent year is muted across the largest names, which is consistent with the broader pullback from the 2020 peak rather than any single company retreating.
A single leader well ahead of fifth place
The top-ranked assignee holds 184 records against 115 for the fifth-placed company, a meaningful gap that narrows quickly further down the list, where tenth place sits at 34 records.
Co-assignment clusters around a few pharma-biotech pairs
The strongest co-assignee pairing appears 40 times, with two further pairings at 36 and 31 occurrences. These patterns typically trace to corporate affiliates or licensing partners filing jointly rather than open collaboration.
Most established filers show little latest-year output
Several of the largest historical filers show zero records in the latest year, with one showing a small increase. Read this against the 18-month publication lag: it understates true recent activity rather than confirming that leaders have stopped filing.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited | 2 | +100% |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| EMD Millipore Corporation | 0 | — |
| Genentech Inc. | 0 | — |
| Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc. | 0 | — |
| Pall Corporation | 0 | — |
| Amgen Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Genzyme Corporation | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The figures above establish the shape of the field. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means drilling into specific claim language and specific assignees.
Check the tail, not just the leaders
With 43.2% of records held outside the top ten, a freedom-to-operate view built only on the largest assignees will miss a majority of the field. Screen the long tail for claims that overlap your specific pore-size or membrane-chemistry approach.
Explore the full assignee set in EurekaMap claims against the under-claimed branches
Extractables profiling, shear-tolerance protocols and fouling analytics show thinner density than core separation claims. A first-filed, narrowly drafted claim in one of these branches faces less prior art than a general TFF hardware claim.
Run a white-space search in EurekaQuestions practitioners ask about this landscape
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 184 of the 2,424 records in scope, ahead of a fifth-place company at 115. The top five combined account for 719 records, or 29.7% of the field, and the top ten reach 43.2%. That still leaves a substantial long tail of companies with only a handful of filings each, so a single-company view of the leaderboard understates how fragmented the rest of the field is.
Filing activity peaked in 2020 at 183 records and pulled back to 96 by 2024, a 30% decline from the 2021 level of 138. That is the most recent year the dataset treats as complete, because patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as those applications publish, so it is premature to call the trend still falling based on the newest years alone.
The dominant classification is B01D, covering separation processes including filtration, which appears on 65.3% of the 2,424 records in scope. C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) follows at 46.3%, and C07K (peptides and proteins) at 28.9%, reflecting how closely membrane hardware claims are tied to biologics and cell-therapy applications in this corpus. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these percentages are not mutually exclusive and should not be summed.
US11278827B2 is held by EMD Millipore Corporation and was granted on 2022-03-22. It claims methods for filtering a liquid feed through single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) systems, including versions that recover retentate and permeate without recirculation and versions that recirculate a portion of the retentate at least once. Anyone designing a TFF process around single-pass or partial-recirculation retentate handling should review this claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
Relative to the core separation and cell-culture classes, branches such as extractables profiling for single-use membranes, shear-tolerance testing protocols, and membrane fouling analytics show thinner claim density in this dataset. These areas sit adjacent to well-covered hardware and bioprocessing claims but are not yet saturated with filings themselves. A narrowly drafted claim in one of these branches is likely to face less directly overlapping prior art than a general crossflow filtration apparatus claim.
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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.