5,200 Global COVID-19 Related Patents... South Korea Ranks in Top 5 for Vaccine and Treatment Patents

417 Vaccine Patents and 1465 Therapeutic Patents
Faster Examination of COVID-19 Patent Applications Worldwide
China Leads in Applications... South Korea Files 40 Applications

Global COVID-19 Vaccine and Therapeutic Patent Application Status. [Source=Korea Bio Association]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more than 5,000 related patents have been filed worldwide. There are 1,882 patents related to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, with 40 patents filed from South Korea, placing it within the top 5 globally.

According to the Korea Bio Association's issue briefing on 'COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Patent Filing Trends' on the 7th, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) analyzed COVID-19 related patent application data from January 2020 to September last year and released it last month.

During this period, a total of 5,293 COVID-19 related patents, including vaccines, treatments, diagnostic kits, and masks, were filed at 49 patent offices worldwide. Among these, 417 patents were for COVID-19 vaccines and 1,465 for treatments, totaling 1,882 patents related to vaccines and treatments. The higher number of treatment-related patent filings is attributed to the frequent 'drug repurposing' efforts to develop existing drugs as COVID-19 treatments.

Major countries including South Korea, the United States, China, and Japan responded swiftly to COVID-19 related patents. In South Korea, the time from patent application to publication in the chemical and life sciences fields was 18.7 months, whereas for COVID-19 it was 13.1 months, 30% faster. The time from application to decision also shortened. The U.S. examined patents 70% faster than usual in the chemical and life sciences fields, and China, Japan, and Russia also conducted examinations more than 50% faster. This indicates that all countries prioritized the examination of COVID-19 patent applications.

Regarding specific patent types, for COVID-19 vaccines, existing vaccine technologies included protein-based and inactivated vaccines, while new vaccine technologies mainly involved virus vector and RNA vaccines. Additionally, more than half (54%) of the COVID-19 treatment-related patent applications were for small molecule drugs, while biopharmaceuticals, including antibodies, peptides, and cell therapies, accounted for 36%.

The top four countries filing COVID-19 vaccine patents were China (276), the United States (72), Russia (21), and the United Kingdom (9). South Korea, Germany, and India each filed 5 patents, tying for 5th place. For treatment patents, the top four countries were China (887), the United States (292), India (60), and South Korea (35). Russia (26), the United Kingdom (22), and Germany (15) followed. South Korea ranked within the top 5 globally for both vaccine and treatment patent filings.