Virus Filtration Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filings are rebuilding, not fading. growth from 2 filings in 2021 to 7 in 2024 (+250%) shows renewed activity after the 2017 peak of 15, even though 2025-2026 counts look low purely because publication lags filing by about 18 months.
- One leader, then a real gap. the top-ranked assignee holds 35 records against 11 at fifth place and just 2 at tenth, across 18 ranked companies — a steep drop-off rather than a crowded middle tier.
- Sterilisation and bioreactor classes dominate equally. A61L and C12M each cover 46.9% of the 98 records in scope, ahead of B01D separation processes at 32.7%, suggesting filters are claimed as much through process and apparatus as through membrane chemistry.
Filing growth compares 2021 (2 records) with 2024 (7) — 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.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent filings at the intersection of virus filtration and parvovirus-retentive filter technology, scoped further to documents discussing log reduction value, flux decay, prefilter selection, protein concentration effects, pressure interruption or validation with model — the operational vocabulary that separates a claimed filtration process from a bare membrane patent. The 98 records span 2015 to a mid-2026 cut-off.
Records concentrate around sterilisation processes, bioreactor and enzyme apparatus, and microorganism-related claims, with a smaller but still substantial share in dedicated separation-process filings. Filing activity peaked in 2017 and has since rebuilt from a 2021 trough, a pattern that matters more to a filing strategy than a single peak year does.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 98-record set: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend: a 2017 peak, a 2021 trough, then rebuild
Filings hit 15 in 2017, the high point of the series, then fell before climbing again from 2 in 2021 to 7 in 2024 — a +250% move over three years. 2025 and 2026 figures sit lower, but that reflects publication lag rather than a real slowdown, since it typically takes about 18 months for a filing to appear as a published record.
Technology composition across seven IPC subclasses
A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) and C12M (bioreactors and enzyme apparatus) each appear in 46.9% of the 98 records, with C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) close behind at 43.9%. B01D, the subclass most associated with dedicated separation and filtration hardware, appears in 32.7% of records — meaning most filings frame virus filtration inside a bioprocessing or sterilisation claim rather than as a standalone filter-membrane invention. Because records can carry several IPC codes, these shares sum to well over 100% of the record total and should be read individually, not added together.
Shares are the percentage of the 98 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Virus Filtration in Biologics Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about virus filtration in biologics manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Virus filtration operations employing an oversized virus prefilter (US20240307803A1)
Disclosed herein are methods for removing at least one viral contaminant from a concentrated composition, comprising filtering the concentrated composition through a virus prefilter and a virus filter over one or more filtration cycles, wherein a ratio of the virus prefilter area to the virus filter area in each filtration cycle is at least about 2:1, as well as viral filtration skids for use in such methods.Filed by Amgen, published 2024-09-19 — one of the more recent entries in this dataset and a useful marker of where prefilter-sizing claims are heading.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150298070A1 | Ultraporous Nanofiber Mats And Uses Thereof | 31 |
| 2 | US20130344535A1 | Virus Filtration of Cell Culture Media | 31 |
| 3 | WO2014093345A1 | Ultrporous nanofiber mats and uses thereof | 28 |
| 4 | US20180051054A1 | Methods of processing a fluid including a recombinant therapeutic protein and use thereof | 17 |
| 5 | WO2018035116A1 | Methods of processing a fluid including a recombinant therapeutic protein and use thereof | 15 |
| 6 | WO2013192009A1 | Virus filtration of cell culture media | 15 |
| 7 | US20170260498A1 | Virus filtration of cell culture media | 7 |
| 8 | WO2016154290A1 | Virus filtration | 6 |
| 9 | US20180072769A1 | Virus filtration | 3 |
| 10 | US20230158343A1 | Filters for virus filtration and inactivation and mask assemblies containing the same | 2 |
Citation counts are shaped by document age within this corpus; older filings accumulate more citations regardless of current relevance, so treat this as a signal of influence rather than of what matters today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing decision
Three findings that shape where new claims are likely to clear prior art and where they are likely to collide with it.
Activity is rebuilding after a post-2017 lull
Filings dropped from the 2017 peak of 15 before climbing from 2 in 2021 to 7 in 2024. That three-year rebound signals renewed commercial interest in filtration process claims rather than a technology past its filing window.
One filer sits well ahead of a thin tail
Among 18 ranked assignees, the leading company holds 35 records against 11 at fifth place and 2 at tenth. The drop-off is steep enough that a new entrant is more likely to run into the leader's claims than into a crowded mid-field.
Process and apparatus claims outweigh membrane-only claims
Sterilising/disinfecting (A61L) and bioreactor/enzyme apparatus (C12M) each cover close to half of the 98 records, ahead of B01D separation processes at 32.7%. Claims framed purely around membrane chemistry face a narrower field than those built around the surrounding process.
Nanofiber mat and cell-culture filtration filings anchor prior art
The two most-cited records in this set relate to ultraporous nanofiber mats and virus filtration of cell culture media, each cited 31 times. Both predate the current filing rebound, so their influence is on foundational claim language rather than on current filing strategy.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to virus filtration in biologics manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims, and where the gate sits
The ranked assignee list is short — 18 companies — with one clear leader and a fast taper beneath it, plus a small set of recurring co-filing pairs that mark corporate lineage rather than open collaboration.
A single filer holds the largest claim footprint
The leading assignee's 35 records sit well clear of the field, more than three times the fifth-place count of 11. Recent-year momentum for this cluster of related entities has flattened to near zero in the latest year, consistent with a portfolio built earlier in the series.
Co-assignee pairs trace corporate structure, not open collaboration
The strongest co-assignee pair appears together on 23 records, and a second pair on 15 — patterns that typically reflect a parent-subsidiary or merger relationship rather than two independent companies choosing to file jointly.
Beneath the top few, filing counts drop to single digits fast
By tenth place in the ranking, assignee counts fall to 2 records. That long tail of low-volume filers is where a well-drafted claim is less likely to face a dense thicket from any one competitor.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen Inc. | 1 | 0% |
| Baxalta Inc. | 0 | — |
| Baxalta GmbH | 0 | — |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited | 0 | — |
| Baxter International Inc. | 0 | — |
| Baxter Healthcare SA | 0 | — |
| Genzyme Corporation | 0 | — |
| EMD Millipore Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next checks before committing a filing or freedom-to-operate position.
Map claim scope against the leader's 35-record portfolio
Before drafting in prefilter sizing or flux-decay control, check how the top assignee's claims are worded around area ratios and pressure recovery, since this is the densest single portfolio in the set.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaWatch the 2024 filing rebound for early signals
The move from 2 filings in 2021 to 7 in 2024 is the clearest recent trend in this dataset. Tracking who files next in that window shows where competitive interest is actually returning.
Track filing trends in EurekaTest white-space claims in validation-modelling and pressure-interruption sub-areas
These sub-areas carry few records relative to the dominant IPC classes, making them a reasonable place to test a first claim rather than compete directly in A61L or C12M.
Search white space in EurekaCommon questions on virus filtration patents
One assignee leads the ranked list with 35 records, well ahead of the fifth-place company at 11 and the tenth-place company at just 2. This is drawn from a ranking of 18 companies total, so it is not a top-50 or top-100 cut — it is the entire ranked field the dataset returns. The steep drop after the leader suggests a concentrated core portfolio rather than several competitors filing at similar volume.
Filings peaked in 2017 at 15 in this dataset, dipped afterward, and then rebuilt from 2 filings in 2021 to 7 in 2024, a +250% increase over that span. The lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 do not indicate a slowdown; publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years of any patent trend are always undercounted. Based on the 2021-2024 trend, activity was recovering rather than declining heading into the most recent complete year.
The largest classes in this dataset are A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) and C12M (bioreactors and enzyme apparatus), each appearing in 46.9% of the 98 records, followed by C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) at 43.9%. B01D, the subclass most specific to separation and filtration equipment, covers 32.7% of records. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%, which reflects how often filtration claims are bundled with process or apparatus claims.
US20240307803A1, filed by Amgen and published in September 2024, covers methods for removing viral contaminants from a concentrated composition using a virus prefilter and virus filter in sequence, where the prefilter area is at least about twice the virus filter area in each filtration cycle. It also covers viral filtration skids designed for that method. The specific 2:1 area-ratio threshold is the narrowest and most defensible part of the claim, so anyone filtering at a different ratio or using a different prefilter-to-filter area relationship sits outside its literal scope.
The dataset shows dense filing in sterilisation, bioreactor apparatus and microorganism-related claims, with comparatively few records touching pressure-interruption recovery protocols, flux-decay compensation control loops, or validation modelling adjusted for protein concentration effects. These sub-areas sit inside the search scope but outside the dominant IPC clusters, making them plausible places to file a first claim without competing directly against the densest prior art. Confirming this requires checking current claim language directly, since class-level shares only indicate where records cluster, not exact claim boundaries.
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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.