CPC technology class · A61
A61P — Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Me…
Specific therapeutic activity of chemical compounds or medicinal preparations. 125,535 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.
- 125,535
- US patents granted
- A61
- Parent CPC class
- 20
- Active assignees
- +3%
- 5-yr velocity
CPC subclass A61P — SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS — covers 125,535 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 A61P 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 A61P is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. The Regents of the University of California leads with 1,387 patents, followed by Novartis AG at 1,768 grants and Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC at 1,248. 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 A61P 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 A61P innovation accelerating?
US utility-patent grants per year in A61P, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 3% versus 2015–2019.
Who leads A61P?
The 12 most active assignees in SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS — wider bars mean more grants
- The Regents of the Un…
The Regents of the University of California
6,428 patents
- Novartis 1,768
Novartis AG
1,768 patents
- Merck Sharp & Dohme 1,248
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
1,248 patents
- Bristol-myers Squibb 1,089
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
1,089 patents
- Genentech 1,039
Genentech, Inc.
1,039 patents
- The Board of Regents… 2,495
The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System
2,495 patents
- Hoffmann-la Roche 1,065
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
1,065 patents
- The United States of… 1,197
The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
1,197 patents
- Immatics Biotechnolog… 690
Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH
690 patents
- Centre National De La…
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
3,025 patents
- Incyte 652
Incyte Corporation
652 patents
- The Trustees of the U… 1,264
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
1,264 patents
What this shows The Regents of the Un… is the most active filer in A61P, holding 1,387 of the 125,535 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 A61P |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | The Regents of the University of California | 6,428 |
| #2 | Novartis AG | 1,768 |
| #3 | Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC | 1,248 |
| #4 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 1,089 |
| #5 | Genentech, Inc. | 1,039 |
| #6 | The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System | 2,495 |
| #7 | Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. | 1,065 |
| #8 | The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services | 1,197 |
| #9 | Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH | 690 |
| #10 | CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE | 3,025 |
| #11 | Incyte Corporation | 652 |
| #12 | The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania | 1,264 |
| #13 | Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 769 |
| #14 | PFIZER INC. | 659 |
| #15 | THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY | 1,727 |
| #16 | Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited | 668 |
| #17 | REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. | 1,117 |
| #18 | DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE, INC. | 716 |
| #19 | Gilead Sciences, Inc. | 561 |
| #20 | The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | 2,275 |
About This Class
CPC subclass A61P belongs to class A61.
125,535 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 A61P?
How many patents have been filed in A61P?
Which company holds the most patents in A61P?
How is patent data for A61P 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.