Target Enrichment Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Target Enrichment and Panel Patents: Filing Trends and Who Holds the Core Claims
35.2% of all 3,803 records sit with five assignees, while the ranked list runs 100 companies deep with a long single-digit tail below tenth place. Filings climbed from 291 in 2017 to a peak of 327 in 2018, then fell from 295 in 2021 to 159 in 2024 — a 46% decline over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
- 1SEQUENOM INC15.8%
- 2THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG7.5%
- 3ILLUMINA INC4.8%
- 4RESOLUTION BIOSCIENCE INC3.6%
- 5NATERA INC3.5%
See the full target enrichment and panels 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
Frequently asked questions
Who holds the most patents in target enrichment and panel design?
One assignee leads clearly with 601 of the 3,803 records in scope, well ahead of fifth place at 132 and tenth place at 77. The top five assignees together hold 35.2% of all records, and the top ten hold 47.5%. Below that, the ranked list of 100 companies thins out quickly into single or low double-digit family counts, so competitive density is concentrated almost entirely at the top.
Is patent filing in target enrichment and hybrid capture slowing down?
Complete-year data shows filings falling from 295 in 2021 to 159 in 2024, a 46% decline over that span, after peaking at 327 in 2018. However, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the true current filing rate is higher than the raw counts for those years suggest. The safest read is that growth has cooled from its 2018 peak, not that the field has stopped.
What technology areas dominate target enrichment patent claims?
C12Q, covering enzyme- and DNA-based measuring and testing methods, appears in 83.4% of the 3,803 records and is by far the largest single class. G16B bioinformatics follows at 28.7% and C12N genetic engineering at 21.8%, showing that informatics claims have become a substantial secondary layer on top of core capture chemistry. Smaller classes such as G06F, G01N, G16H and A61K mark narrower but active intersections with data processing, material analysis, healthcare informatics and therapeutics.
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 Target Enrichment and Panels 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.