Patents

Patent applications related to ESG increased by 2% per year on average in the pharmaceutical industry since 2020

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The global pharmaceutical industry experienced a 2% rise in annual average growth rate (AAGR) in the number of ESG-related patent applications between 2020 and 2022. The total number of ESG-related grants increased by an AAGR of 2% during the same period, according to GlobalData's patent analytics database.  

Notably, the number of ESG-related patent applications in the pharmaceutical industry was 98,905 since 2020, while 54,072 applications were granted.

The top five assignees by filings accounted for 5% of patent applications

Analysis of patent applications by assignee shows that LG filed the most ESG patents within the pharmaceutical industry since 2020. The company filed 918 ESG-related patents since 2020.  

It was followed by E. Merck (618 applications), Chinese Academy of Sciences (609 applications), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (596 applications) and Zhejiang University (550 applications).  

The top five assignees by grants accounted for 8% of successful patent grants

Analysis of patent grants by assignee shows that LG was granted 619 patents related to ESG within the pharmaceutical industry since 2020. It was followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences (574 grants), E. Merck (567 grants), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (405 grants) and Corteva (394 grants).

Patent activity was driven by China with a 43% share of total patent publications

The largest share of ESG-related patent publications in the pharmaceutical industry since 2020 was held by China with 43%, followed by the US (15%) and Japan (7%).

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patents Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official patent offices around the world. Proprietary analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.