CPC technology class · A61
A61J — Containers Specially Adapted FOR Medical OR Pharmaceutica…
Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes; devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms; devices for administering food or medicines orally; baby comforters; devices for receiving spittle. 6,855 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.
- 6,855
- US patents granted
- A61
- Parent CPC class
- 20
- Active assignees
- +29%
- 5-yr velocity
CPC subclass A61J — CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE — covers 6,855 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class A61 (MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like A61J give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.
The competitive landscape in A61J is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Becton, Dickinson and Company leads with 143 patents, followed by CORNING INCORPORATED at 3,494 grants and DEKA Products Limited Parternship at 1,025. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.
Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in A61J is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.
Is A61J innovation accelerating?
US utility-patent grants per year in A61J, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 29% versus 2015–2019.
Who leads A61J?
The 12 most active assignees in CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE — wider bars mean more grants
- Becton Dickinson and
Becton, Dickinson and Company
2,235 patents
- Corning Incorporated
CORNING INCORPORATED
3,494 patents
- Deka Products Partern… 1,025
DEKA Products Limited Parternship
1,025 patents
- Carefusion 303 711
CAREFUSION 303, INC.
711 patents
- Icu Medical 332
ICU Medical, Inc.
332 patents
- Avent 304
Avent, Inc.
304 patents
- Yuyama Mfg 104
Yuyama Mfg. Co., Ltd.
104 patents
- Purdue Pharma 365
PURDUE PHARMA L.P.
365 patents
- Purdue Pharmaceuticals 73
PURDUE PHARMACEUTICALS L.P.
73 patents
- Sanofi-aventis Deutsc… 1,348
Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH
1,348 patents
- Terumo 1,250
Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
1,250 patents
- Fresenius Kabi Deutsc… 174
Fresenius Kabi Deutschland GmbH
174 patents
What this shows Becton Dickinson and is the most active filer in A61J, holding 143 of the 6,855 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.
View data table
| Rank | Company | Patents in A61J |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Becton, Dickinson and Company | 2,235 |
| #2 | CORNING INCORPORATED | 3,494 |
| #3 | DEKA Products Limited Parternship | 1,025 |
| #4 | CAREFUSION 303, INC. | 711 |
| #5 | ICU Medical, Inc. | 332 |
| #6 | Avent, Inc. | 304 |
| #7 | Yuyama Mfg. Co., Ltd. | 104 |
| #8 | PURDUE PHARMA L.P. | 365 |
| #9 | PURDUE PHARMACEUTICALS L.P. | 73 |
| #10 | Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH | 1,348 |
| #11 | Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha | 1,250 |
| #12 | Fresenius Kabi Deutschland GmbH | 174 |
| #13 | Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. | 324 |
| #14 | Baxter International Inc. | 620 |
| #15 | Schott AG | 594 |
| #16 | Baxter Healthcare SA | 590 |
| #17 | Fenwal, Inc. | 363 |
| #18 | AMGEN INC. | 875 |
| #19 | MEDTRONIC MINIMED, INC. | 769 |
| #20 | NeoMed, Inc. | 61 |
About This Class
CPC subclass A61J belongs to class A61.
6,855 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.
20 companies actively patent in this space.
Classification System
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CPC class A61J?
How many patents have been filed in A61J?
Which company holds the most patents in A61J?
How is patent data for A61J collected?
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
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Explore the patent dataset
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.