Indian Patent Filings Trend in the Life Sciences Sector

India's life sciences industry has expanded tremendously over the years. A few of the elements promoting the sector's expansion include the nation's significant formulation expertise, concentration on building manufacturing and regulatory skills, and a patent system that is supportive of inventors. And even while some could argue that India's life sciences industry has not performed as well as some of the top countries in the world, it has come a long way.

In keeping with the foregoing, the subsequent piece discusses the sector's innovation index's exponential growth, the major patterns in Indian patent applications over the past ten years, and the problems that still lie ahead.

1. The number of patents submitted in 2019 increased by 14.5% when compared to those filed in 2011.

2. 3% more patents were filed in the last five years (2016–2020) than were filed in the five years prior (2011–2015).

3. The number of patents filed in the recent five years (2016-2020) has increased by about 35% when compared to the number of patents submitted between 2011 and 2015 (Patents having Indian Priority).

Let's first examine the connection between patents and the life sciences industry before we move forward. Given that patents account for a sizable percentage of the industry's revenue, the two are inextricably linked. Therefore, it is understandable why the biological sciences have become one of the industries with the highest growth rates in global patent applications over time.

If we look at India's overall patent filing trend from 2011 to 2020, we can see that there has been a continuous rise in applications, with 1,93,327 total files. Additionally, if we compare the total number of patent filings during the last five years (2016–2020) with those over the five years prior (2011–2015), we find that over 95,000 patents were submitted between 2016–2020 compared to over 93,000 during the previous five years (2011–2015). In general, this comparison shows a significant rise in filings during the previous five years.


It is significant to notice that from 2011 to 2020, both Indian submissions and patent applications with Indian priority increased dramatically. Over 50,000 Indian priority applications in total have been recorded throughout this time. Out of those, over 20,000 applications were submitted between 2011 and 2015, while over 30,000 applications were submitted throughout the course of the previous five years (2016-2020).


Let's now review the past five years' trend in terms of assignees, international patent classifications (IPCs), and the regional distribution of Indian patent filings as a whole in order to comprehend the recent patent filing situation in India.

IPCs, Assignees and Geographical Distribution of Indian Patent Filings

The last five years saw the most patent filings in terms of technical fields within the life sciences domain (using IPCs). Diagnostics and surgery, pharmaceutical preparations, medical devices, drugs for treating various disorders, methods for separating or isolating chemicals, chemical compounds, protein compositions and their preparation, microbiology and genetic engineering, and testing procedures like immunoassays are among the top areas. Out of these, the category of medicinal preparations includes almost 28,000 patent filings, the most of any technology sector between 2016 and 2020. Similar patent filing distribution has been shown for these top ten technical domains based on application years as well.

Overall, foreign companies, Indian companies, and academic institutions have filed patents in India (research institutes and universities). Out of these, international companies have filed the greatest number of Indian patents, demonstrating that India is regarded as a major market destination. Philips, BASF, Dow Global Technologies, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, Unilever, Novartis, and Ethicon are among the top ten foreign contributors to Indian files between 2016 and 2020 with 4064, 3220, 1364, 1044, 1025, 1006, 980, and 974 filings, respectively.


ITC Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, and Cadila Healthcare are the top Indian companies that have filed patents in India during the past five years, with 597, 586, 560, 466, and 426 patents, respectively.

But what's even more intriguing is that academic institutions, including both Indian and foreign universities and research institutes, are aggressively registering for Indian patents. Lovely Professional University (LPU), Amity University, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), IIT Bombay, and IIT Madras are the top filers among Indian research universities and institutions, with 569, 513, 458, 396, and 396 filings, respectively. The Indian academic community's numerous patent filings demonstrate their outstanding research capacities. Top foreign research institutions with over 400 patents apiece submitted in the previous five years in India's life sciences sector include the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) and IFP School (France).

When it comes to the regional distribution of patents having Indian priority, the USA, Europe, China, and Japan are followed by the vast majority of Indian filers who submit their patent applications domestically. The high potential of these markets and the level of research conducted by Indian inventors in the life sciences sector are both reflected in these international filings by Indian applicants. In addition, the United States leads the field of countries filing patent applications in India with over 59000 patents, followed by Europe, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, China, Korea, and Australia.

Additionally, the COVID-19 disaster had a negative impact on businesses and people worldwide, but the innovators' spirits remained unaffected. Ethicon, BASF, Philips, Lovely Professional University (LPU), Unilever, University of Chandigarh, Nippon Steel, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, Dow Global Technologies, and LG Chem Ltd. are among the top 10 assignees who applied for patents in India in the Life Sciences sector during the pandemic. Interestingly, the top foreign assignees are facing up against LPU and the University of Chandigarh, who together have over 170 patents.

Diagnostics and surgery, pharmaceutical preparations, medical devices, drugs for treating various disorders, processes for separating or isolating chemicals like chromatography and distillation, chemical compounds, protein compositions and their preparation, microbiology and genetic engineering, testing processes like immunoassays, catalysts, and other technology areas received the most patent applications during COVID. The following joined the list of the top technical fields during the pandemic: Treatment of Water/Sludge, Catalysts and Colloid Chemistry, Medical Implants/Prostheses, Disinfectants and Similar Chemicals, and Computational Models.

To get more information, read entire article on Patent Filings

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