U.S. sees decline in share in all pharma-related fields.

The new annual report from the European Patent Office (EPO), covering all patent applications in the EU, has shown that the level of filings fell slightly in most medical fields in 2016, as they did overall. However, levels fluctuated varied among different categories of product and services and all were fluctuating within fairly narrow margins. The U.S. remains comfortably the largest filer of patents by nation, followed by Germany, but its relative share fell in each area, while China and South Korea surged in many fields.

The field of medical technology, which covers medical instruments for diagnosis, and the treatment of diseases and surgery, including vaccination instruments, prostheses, surgical robots, computed tomography and pacemakers, saw a 2.1% fall in filings in 2016, from 12,531 to 12,263. The fall came after four years of rising year-on-year filings in medical technology and the 2016 level was still well in excess of the yearly average of 11,462 since 2012.

The leading applicants in this field were Philips, with 761 filings, ahead of Medtronic (535), Johnson & Johnson (450), Olympus (341), Boston Scientific (255) and Sanofi (210). The US accounted for 38% of all filings, but its total of 4,606 was 11.2% down on 2015. Similarly, Germany in second place (1,323, 11% of the total) saw a 7.4% fall. There were significant rises in the numbers of filings from the UK (up 22.4% to 339), the Netherlands (up 11.4% to 868) and Switzerland (up 10.7% to 598).

Medical technology is the single largest field for patent filings in Europe. Three other pharma-related fields round out the top ten: pharmaceuticals (tenth), biotechnology (ninth) and organic fine chemistry (eighth). Pharmaceuticals, encompassing all preparations for medical, dental or hygiene purposes, saw a 5.0% fall in applications from 6,055 in 2015 to 5,754 in 2016. This was slightly below the five-year average of 5,811.

The most prolific pharmaceutical applicants were France’s National Institute of Health & Medical Research (INSERM), with 104, Novartis with 96, Merck & Co. (90), Hoffmann-La Roche (78) and Nestlé (53). By nation, the U.S. was the largest contributor, with a 36% share of the total but the total number of U.S. filings fell by 9.1% to 2,052. The next largest were Germany (up 3.1% to 524), Switzerland (up 17.4% to 438) and France (almost static at 424).

Biotechnology, a category covering the use of peptides, microbiology and genetic engineering in medicine but also extending to many applications in food, such as brewing beer, saw a slight (0.3%) increase in the number of filings, from 5,724 to 5,744. This was slightly above the five-year average of 5,606, which has never varied much.

The leading patent filers in biotechnology were Hoffmann-La Roche, with 196, INSERM (111), Novozymes (92), DSM (71) and BASF (67). The U.S. accounted for 30% of the total, but its year-on-year total was down 5.5% at 1,713. Next came Germany, up 1.8% to 670, and there were big increases for France (up 10.7% to 485), Japan (up 29.7% to 467) and the UK (up 20.9% to 214), as well as China and South Korea.

Organic fine chemistry is a field which encompasses organic pure substances, combinatorial chemistry and preparations for medical, dental and hygiene uses, covering cosmetics, and food ingredients as well pharmaceuticals. Its total of 6,189 filings was 4.0% down on 2015 and the lowest in the past five years, which have seen an average of 6,344, although the total has not fluctuated very much in that time.

The U.S.’s 25% share represented 1,581 filings, down 11.8% on 2015, while Germany’s 21% share amounted to 1,328, down 4.2%. Most others were also down but China (up 43% to 176) and South Korea (up 17.4% to 131) saw impressive hikes. Bayer had the largest single number of filings in this field, at 333. The top of the list was completed by BASF with 301, Unilever with 166, Procter & Gamble with 147 and L’Oréal with 139.