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CPC technology class · C40

C40B - Combinatorial Chemistry

Combinatorial chemistry; libraries, e.g. chemical libraries. 2,284 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

2,284
US patents granted
C40
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+54%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Combinatorial Chemistry ranks #356 of 670 CPC technology areas - 2,284 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 54% over five years.

#356
of 670 CPC technology areas
2,284
US patents granted, 2015–2025
President and Fellows…
leading assignee (60)
+54%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: President And Fellows Of Harvard College (60 patents)

CPC subclass C40B - COMBINATORIAL CHEMISTRY; LIBRARIES, e.g. CHEMICAL LIBRARIES - covers 2,284 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class C40 (COMBINATORIAL TECHNOLOGY). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in C40B is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. President And Fellows Of Harvard College leads with 60 patents, followed by Prognosys Biosciences, Inc. at 46 grants and Inscripta Inc. at 44.

Filing activity in C40B is up 54% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is C40B innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in C40B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 54% versus 2015–2019.

100150200250 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 174

Who leads C40B?

The 12 most active assignees in COMBINATORIAL CHEMISTRY; LIBRARIES, e.g. CHEMICAL LIBRARIES - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows President and Fellows… is the most active filer in C40B, holding 60 of the 2,284 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass C40B
Rank Company Patents in C40B
#1 Illumina, Inc. 46
#2 Prognosys Biosciences, Inc. 46
#3 Inscripta Inc. 44
#4 10x Genomics, Inc. 37
#5 University Of Washington 36
#6 Twist Bioscience Corporation 32
#7 Illumina Cambridge Limited 29
#8 Bio-rad Laboratories, Inc. 28
#9 Dyax Corp. 23
#10 Bristol-myers Squibb Company 19
#11 Gigagen, Inc. 19
#12 Roche Sequencing Solutions, Inc. 17
#13 Vibrant Holdings, Llc 17
#14 Adimab, Llc 16
#15 ENZO LIFE Sciences, Inc. 15
#16 Chugai Seiyaku Kabushiki Kaisha 14
#17 Bioatla, Inc. 13
#18 Nuevolution A/s 13
#19 The Broad Institute, Inc. 12
#20 THE Scripps Research Institute 12

About This Class

CPC subclass C40B belongs to class C40.

2,284 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.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading C40B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 C40B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in C40B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 C40B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in C40B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 1015202530 1020304050 Patents in C40B Avg claims / patent (company-wide) IlluminaPrognosys BiosciencesInscripta10x GenomicsUniversity of Washing…Twist BioscienceIllumina CambridgeBio-rad LaboratoriesDyaxBristol-myers SquibbGigagenRoche Sequencing Solu…Vibrant HoldingsAdimab
Top 14 C40B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in C40B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class C40B?
CPC subclass C40B covers COMBINATORIAL CHEMISTRY; LIBRARIES, e.g. CHEMICAL LIBRARIES. It belongs to CPC class C40 (COMBINATORIAL TECHNOLOGY), with 2,284 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in C40B?
2,284 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass C40B between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in C40B?
President And Fellows Of Harvard College leads C40B with 60 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for C40B collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., C40) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like C40B provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.