WIPO: Pharma patents dwindle against record total growth

Health-related patents fell during 2022 against a backdrop of record global patents filed | Biotechnology was fastest growing field among Patent Cooperation Treaty applications | COVID-19 pandemic caused large falls in goods classes such as pharmaceuticals.

Last year saw the highest ever number of patent applications filed, according to the latest data from the World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO).

Biotechnology was the fourth-fastest growing field of technology in 2022 (6.7%), and medical technology took the fourth-largest share of of published PCT applications (7%), but patents in health-related goods classes saw a decline following particularly strong growth among health-related technologies in 2021.

Overall, a record total of 278,100 patents were filed under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty ( PCT) in 2022, which is intended to simplify the process of seeking patent protection in multiple countries.

While this represents a modest overall rise of 0.3% since 2021—attributed to challenging economic conditions during 2022—“that, in a sense, is growth,” Carsten Fink, chief economist at WIPO, told WIPR.

The challenging conditions behind the modest rise were “when parts of the world were still under COVID restrictions, especially China,” explained Fink. “And also central banks [were] raising interest rates in response to inflationary pressures. We have lots of data on the drying up of risk finance."

In contrast, the goods classes recording large declines included pharmaceuticals (–12.2%), cosmetics (–12.0%) and surgical, medical, dental and veterinary apparatus and instruments (–14.0%), despite each having posted sizeable increases between 2020 and 2021.

However, this is not so surprising, said Fink, as these markets were “essentially getting back to normal” since the disruptions of the COVID pandemic.

Daren Tang, WIPO director general, said of the results: “International IP filings largely held up in 2022. Despite difficult economic conditions and a decline in risk finance, businesses continued to invest in innovation. China’s entry into the Hague System…fuelled design applications from China and the rest of the world, showing that multilateral approaches to international cooperation can deliver benefits for everyone.”

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