China Filed the Most Patents on COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been remarkable research and innovation efforts to fight the SARS-COV-2 virus and the related disease. The latest patent landscape report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), provides early observations on the patenting activity which took place in the field of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, and compares results with clinical trial data for related candidate vaccines and drugs.

The report states that in total 7,758 patent applications relating to the pandemic were filed between January 2020 and September 2022. The top patent offices of filing for COVID-19 therapeutics are China, WIPO, the U.S., India and the European Patent Office (EPO). Looking at the origin of the filings based on the applicants’ locations China, the U.S., India, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation are the top five applicant locations.

Companies and research organizations submitted the majority of the applications. Companies filed 52% of the therapeutic patent applications, while research organizations submitted 42%. The percentage difference for vaccines was 49% to 38%, respectively.