A latest report released by WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, shows that thousands of patent applications have been filed from around the world in the latest technological fields to combat COVID-19, the vast majority of which are related to treatment methods.
According to statistics from the latest "Patent Profile Report: Vaccines and Therapeutics Related to COVID-19", China, the United States, South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom submitted a total of 7,758 patent applications from January 2020 to September 2022. Among them, about 4,787 patents are for treatments to help patients who have been infected with the new coronavirus. Nearly 10% of the patents are based on traditional medicine, and about 1,298 applications are for vaccine development. China ranks first in patent applications for vaccines and therapeutic drugs, followed by vaccine applications from the United States, Germany and South Korea, and therapeutic drug applications from the United States, South Korea and India.
In the statistics of patent applicants, companies and research institutions are almost equally divided: in the field of vaccines, companies and research institutions account for 52% and 42% respectively, while in the field of treatment methods, the proportions of companies and research institutions are 49% and 42% respectively. 38%. About a quarter of the applications had more than one assignee, suggesting collaboration between companies and research institutions.
Among the statistics on patent application subjects, the number of patent applications for antibodies has grown the fastest, accounting for approximately one-third of patent applications in this category. Their newly developed virus-neutralizing forms represent a new class of antiviral drugs.
(*The data in the above article comes from WIPO)