Valve Delivery Systems Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- 69.2% concentration. The top 5 assignees hold 128 of 185 records in scope (69.2%), with the leader alone at 42 — this is a field where a handful of incumbents occupy most of the claim space.
- Filings grew 38% from 2021 to 2024. the last three-year span with complete publication data, after a 2019 peak of 35 filings; 2025-onward figures are still filling in due to the usual publication lag.
- A61F dominates, A61L and plastics-shaping trail far behind. 78.4% of records touch implant/prosthesis claims (A61F), while sterilising (4.3%) and plastics-shaping (2.7%) classes are comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (13 records) with 2024 (18) — 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 185 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers valve delivery systems and access — the catheters, sheaths and deployment mechanisms used to place transcatheter heart valves, together with the vascular access considerations (trackability, sheath outer diameter, vascular complication rates, deployment accuracy, alternative access routes, operator learning curve) that determine whether a delivery system is usable in practice rather than just in a bench test. The scope spans 185 published records from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off.
Most of the activity sits inside implant and prosthesis claims (A61F), with a substantial secondary cluster in devices for handling body fluids (A61M) and diagnostic/surgical instrumentation (A61B). Sterilisation and plastics-forming classes appear only at the margins, which is where component-level and manufacturing-process claims tend to be less contested.
Filing trends and technology composition
Filing volume, assignee concentration and IPC composition for the 185 records in scope, drawn directly from the underlying dataset.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings peaked at 35 in 2019 and grew 38% from 13 filings in 2021 to 18 in 2024, the last year with complete publication data. Figures from 2025 onward understate true filing activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
IPC subclass composition
A61F (implants & prostheses) appears in 78.4% of the 185 records, far ahead of A61M (33.0%) and A61B (13.0%). Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to more than 100% and should be read against the 185-record total, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 185 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Valve Delivery Systems and Access with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about valve delivery systems and access and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative recent filing
Loader Sheath and Methods for Preparing Prosthetic Heart Valve Delivery System
A prosthetic heart valve delivery system may include a delivery device having a balloon at a distal end, a balloon-expandable prosthetic heart valve configured to be received on the balloon in a crimped condition, and a loader sheath configured to at least partially surround the crimped valve while it sits on the balloon. The loader sheath includes a tube and a proximal hub, with a first channel extending axially along the tube wall and a second channel running parallel to it, the two channels forming weakened areas intended to promote tearing of the sheath during deployment.Filed by ST. JUDE MEDICAL, CARDIOLOGY DIVISION, INC., published 2025-08-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2009024859A2 | Stent-valves for valve replacement and associated methods and systems for surgery | 299 |
| 2 | US20180221147A1 | Systems and methods for heart valve therapy | 191 |
| 3 | US20140330371A1 | Prosthetic valves and associated appartuses, systems and methods | 175 |
| 4 | US8740976B2 | Transcatheter prosthetic heart valve delivery system with flush report | 163 |
| 5 | US8512400B2 | Transcatheter heart valve delivery system with reduced area moment of inertia | 145 |
| 6 | US8771344B2 | Transcatheter heart valve delivery system with reduced area moment of inertia | 137 |
| 7 | US20110264199A1 | Transcatheter Prosthetic Heart Valve Delivery System with Flush Report | 137 |
| 8 | US20110251680A1 | Transcatheter Heart Valve Delivery System With Reduced Area Moment of Inertia | 133 |
| 9 | US20170189177A1 | Systems and methods for heart valve therapy | 120 |
| 10 | WO2017117388A1 | Systems and methods for heart valve therapy | 55 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once concentration, growth and technology mix are read together.
The field is tightly held at the top
With 128 of 185 records concentrated among five assignees and the leader alone accounting for 42, most delivery-mechanism and deployment-accuracy claim space is already occupied. New entrants are more likely to find room in adjacent access-route or component claims than in core delivery-system architecture.
Momentum built through the early 2020s
Filings grew from 13 in 2021 to 18 in 2024, following a 2019 peak of 35. The recent uptick suggests continued investment in delivery-system refinement even after the initial wave of core valve-replacement patents matured.
Sterilisation and manufacturing claims are thin
Only 8 of 185 records fall under A61L and 5 under B29C (plastics shaping). These are process- and component-adjacent classes that sit well outside the dense A61F core, and they carry markedly less filing pressure.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to valve delivery systems and access, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum is shifting
The ranked list covers 30 companies returned by the data endpoint — not a top-50 or top-100 cut — with filings counted in records.
One assignee holds the largest single share
The leading assignee's 42 records sit well ahead of fifth place at 18, meaning the drop-off from first to fifth place alone is steep before the long tail even starts.
The top 10 still command most of the field
Combined, the top 10 assignees hold 158 of 185 records (85.4%), leaving a long tail of single- and low-digit filers to compete for the remainder.
Recent-year activity has cooled among the largest filers
Several of the most active assignees show flat or sharply reduced filings in the latest tracked year, though this partly reflects publication lag rather than a genuine pullback.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc. | 2 | 0% |
| Caisson Interventional LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Symetis SA | 0 | — |
| Three Peaks Medical Pty Ltd | 0 | — |
| Medtronic, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Shifamed Holdings LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Medtronic Vascular, Inc. | 0 | — |
| RING MICHAEL | 0 | — |
Using this landscape
The dataset points to where claim space is dense, where it is thin, and which recent filings are worth reading in full.
Check freedom-to-operate against the dense core
Before drafting new delivery-mechanism claims, screen against the top-5 assignees' portfolios, which together cover 69.2% of records in scope.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Sterilisation-compatible components and plastics-shaping methods carry far lower filing density than core prosthesis claims, and may offer more workable filing room.
Run a white-space search in EurekaRead the recent filing in full
US20250248813A1's loader-sheath tear-away mechanism is a concrete example of a claim built around a delivery-preparation step rather than the valve itself.
Open the full filing in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranked list in this dataset covers 30 assignees, with the leader holding 42 of the 185 records in scope. The top 5 combined account for 69.2% of all records, and the top 10 account for 85.4%, so the field is concentrated among a small group of incumbents rather than spread evenly. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should start with these leaders' portfolios before looking at the long tail of single-filing entrants.
Filings grew 38% from 13 in 2021 to 18 in 2024, the most recent year with reliably complete publication data. The field peaked earlier, at 35 filings in 2019, so current volume is below that historic high but has been trending upward again through the early 2020s. Figures for 2025 and later should be read cautiously, since patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months.
A61F, covering implants and prostheses, appears in 78.4% of the 185 records in scope and is the dominant class by a wide margin. A61M (devices for body fluids) and A61B (diagnosis and surgery) follow at 33.0% and 13.0% respectively. Sterilising/disinfecting (A61L) and plastics-shaping classes (B29C, B29L) are present but far less contested, at under 5% each.
The comparatively thin classes are A61L (sterilisation, 4.3% of records) and the plastics-shaping classes B29C and B29L (2.7% and 1.6%), suggesting component-level and manufacturing-process claims face less prior art density than core delivery-mechanism claims. Specific under-claimed sub-areas include loader sheath tear-away mechanisms, alternative access-route hardware, and deployment-accuracy sensing. These are narrower than the core valve-replacement claim space but still commercially relevant.
US20250248813A1, filed by St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, describes a loader sheath with a tube and proximal hub that includes two parallel axial channels forming weakened areas designed to promote controlled tearing during deployment preparation. It is a delivery-preparation component patent rather than a valve or core-mechanism patent, so it constrains how loader sheaths are structured for tear-away deployment rather than the valve design itself. Anyone designing a similar tear-away loader sheath should review its claim scope closely before finalising a mechanism.
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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.