Targeted Protein Degradation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filings grew 51% from 2021 to 2024 (201 → 303), with 2023 the peak year on record at 311 published families.
- The top five assignees hold 30.2% of all 1,961 records, and the top ten hold 44.8% — concentrated, but with a long tail of single- and double-filing entrants behind them.
- A61K and A61P dominate the IPC mix at 69.4% and 50.7% of records respectively, while enzymatic and fermentation-route classes (C12P, C12Q) sit under 7% each — a sign of where claim density is thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (201 records) with 2024 (303) — 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 1,961 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the targeted protein degradation patent landscape covers
Targeted protein degradation (TPD) uses bifunctional or monovalent small molecules, and increasingly biologics and RNA-based constructs, to hijack a cell’s own ubiquitin-proteasome or lysosomal machinery and eliminate disease-causing proteins rather than merely inhibiting them. The patent record spans PROTAC-style degraders, molecular glues, and E3 ligase-targeting peptides, alongside the diagnostic and target-identification claims that typically accompany a degrader program — sequence reads, expression-level biomarkers and therapeutic-target validation methods.
The dataset in scope covers 1,961 published patent families filed or published between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off, drawn from filings that combine degradation-mechanism language with molecular-target or biomarker claims. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate the true filing volume.
Filing trend and technology composition
Annual filing counts and IPC subclass shares across the 1,961 records in scope, drawn directly from the underlying dataset.
A decade of accelerating filings, with 2023 as the high-water mark
Published families rose from 33 in 2017 to a peak of 311 in 2023. The three-year run from 2021 (201) to 2024 (303) shows +51% growth — the clearest complete-year evidence of sustained momentum, since 2025 and 2026 are still filling in behind the publication lag.
Medicinal preparations and therapeutic-activity classes dominate
A61K (69.4% of records) and A61P (50.7%) anchor the field as expected for a therapeutics category. Heterocyclic compound claims under C07D (37.4%) and peptide/protein claims under C07K (28.9%) follow. Fermentation-route synthesis (C12P, 2.8%) and enzyme/DNA-measurement claims (C12Q, 6.0%) are comparatively thin, which is where the open ground sits.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,961 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaThe most-cited filings anchoring the field
MRNA molecule for targeted protein degradation and use
The filing describes an mRNA construct built from a 5' cap, non-coding regions, a Kozak element and a poly-A tail, encoding a fusion polypeptide that links a VHL E3 ubiquitin ligase-targeting peptide, a linker, and a protein-of-interest-targeting polypeptide — an mRNA-delivered alternative to small-molecule PROTACs intended to improve anti-tumour efficacy and cell penetration.Filed by Cosychem Biotechnology Technology (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., published 2025-11-19 under EP4650451A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2016146985A1 | Derivatives of 1-[(cyclopentyl or 2-pyrrolidinyl)carbonylaminomethyl]-4-(1,3-thiazol-5-YL) benzene which are … | 249 |
| 2 | WO2019099868A2 | Degraders and degrons for targeted protein degradation | 169 |
| 3 | WO2017024319A1 | Tunable endogenous protein degradation | 152 |
| 4 | WO2017180417A1 | Bet protein degraders | 112 |
| 5 | WO2000062814A2 | Intracellular pharmaceutical targeting | 107 |
| 6 | WO2019079701A1 | Heterobifunctional compounds with improved specificityfor the bromodomain of BRD4 | 102 |
| 7 | WO2020132561A1 | Targeted protein degradation | 101 |
| 8 | WO2018148443A1 | Tunable endogenous protein degradation with heterobifunctional compounds | 99 |
| 9 | WO2019079569A1 | Compositions and methods for selective protein degradation | 85 |
| 10 | WO2018051107A1 | Fluorohydroxyproline derivatives useful in the preparation of proteolysis targeted chimeras | 73 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence rather than current importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the concentration, growth and citation figures above.
The top of the field is dense, but not closed
The top five assignees hold 30.2% of all records and the top ten 44.8%, leaving well over half the field to the remaining ranked entrants and unranked filers. That is dense enough to require freedom-to-operate diligence around the leaders' core degrader-chemistry claims, but not so concentrated that a well-differentiated mechanism is automatically blocked.
Growth is real, but recent years still understate it
Filings rose from 201 in 2021 to 303 in 2024, a 51% increase across the last three years that can be treated as complete. 2023's peak of 311 and the slower-looking 2025-2026 figures should not be read as a slowdown — those years are still filling in behind the roughly 18-month publication lag.
Claim density sits heavily on small-molecule chemistry
A61K medicinal-preparation claims cover 69.4% of records and C07D heterocyclic-compound claims 37.4%, reflecting the field's small-molecule PROTAC and molecular-glue core. Fermentation and enzymatic-synthesis claims under C12P sit at just 2.8%, and enzyme/DNA measurement under C12Q at 6.0% — thinner ground for anyone building degradation platforms around biologic or fermentation-derived routes.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to targeted protein degradation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Leading assignees and where their momentum is heading
The ranked leaders are dominated by academic and hospital-affiliated research institutes, with a smaller number of dedicated degrader biotechs close behind — a pattern typical of a field still moving from academic discovery into clinical-stage biotech.
A single academic-hospital leader sets the pace
The top-ranked assignee holds 148 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 85 and the tenth at 47 — a steep early drop-off that flattens into a long tail across the rest of the 100-company ranking.
Several top filers pulled back in the latest year
Multiple leading assignees show single-digit filing counts and negative year-over-year change in the most recent year — consistent with the publication lag rather than a genuine retreat, since 2025-2026 records are still being published.
Institutional co-filing clusters around a small set of partners
The strongest co-assignee pairs link a small group of academic and hospital institutions, suggesting durable research partnerships rather than one-off licensing deals. Dedicated degrader biotechs appear in the ranking mostly as sole assignees.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| C4 Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | -40% |
| The Broad Institute, Inc. | 1 | -50% |
| The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. | 1 | -50% |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | 1 | 0% |
| Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of Michigan | 0 | — |
| Arvinas Operations, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above establish the shape of the field. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy, or scouting.
Map claim boundaries around the leading assignees
Concentration at the top means the leading academic and hospital assignees' core degrader-chemistry claims are worth reading in full before committing to a scaffold.
Explore assignee claims in Eureka →Probe the under-claimed branches directly
Fermentation-route synthesis and mRNA-delivered degrader constructs show materially lower IPC density than the small-molecule core — worth a dedicated search before assuming the space is occupied.
Run a white-space search in Eureka →Track filings past the publication lag
2025-2026 figures will keep revising upward for another 18 months; set a recurring watch rather than reading the latest year as a slowdown.
Set up monitoring in Eureka →Common questions about targeted protein degradation patents
The dataset in scope contains 1,961 published patent families filed or published between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off. Filings grew from 33 in 2017 to a peak of 311 in 2023, and the most reliable complete-year growth figure shows a 51% increase from 201 in 2021 to 303 in 2024. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as publication catches up with filing, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
The ranking covers 100 companies and institutions, all counted in records, with the leader holding 148 records against 85 for fifth place and 47 for tenth. The top five combined hold 30.2% of all 1,961 records and the top ten hold 44.8%, indicating meaningful concentration at the top alongside a long tail of smaller filers. Academic and hospital-affiliated research institutes make up a large share of the leading positions, with degrader-focused biotechs also present near the top.
A61K (medicinal preparations) covers 69.4% of the 1,961 records and A61P (therapeutic activity of compounds) covers 50.7%, reflecting the field's core focus on small-molecule and biologic therapeutics. C07D (heterocyclic compounds) and C07K (peptides and proteins) follow at 37.4% and 28.9% respectively. Fermentation-route synthesis under C12P sits at just 2.8% of records, marking one of the thinner areas of claim density.
IPC composition data points to fermentation-derived degrader synthesis (C12P, 2.8% of records) and enzyme/DNA-based biomarker or assay claims (C12Q, 6.0%) as comparatively under-claimed relative to the dominant small-molecule chemistry classes. Emerging constructs such as mRNA-encoded degrader delivery and lysosome-targeting chimeras also show thinner representation in the record set than PROTAC-style small molecules. These are starting points for a targeted search, not a guarantee of open claim space, since a full clearance search should still be run before relying on them.
EP4650451A1 is a 2025-11-19 filing from Cosychem Biotechnology Technology (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. covering an mRNA molecule for targeted protein degradation: a construct with a 5' cap, non-coding regions, a Kozak element and a poly-A tail that encodes a fusion polypeptide linking a VHL E3 ubiquitin ligase-targeting peptide, a linker peptide, and a protein-of-interest-targeting polypeptide. It represents an mRNA-delivered alternative to small-molecule PROTACs, aimed at improving anti-tumour efficacy and solving cell-penetration limitations associated with peptide-based degraders. Anyone building an mRNA-encoded degrader construct with a similar VHL-targeting fusion architecture should review this filing's exact claim scope directly.
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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.