COVID-19 Diagnostic Technology, '189' Patent Applications Filed Over 15 Months

Graph of monthly patent application trends for COVID-19 diagnostic technology. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Patent applications related to COVID-19 diagnostic technology have been steadily continuing from last year through this year.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the 10th, a total of 189 patent applications related to diagnostic technology were filed over the past 15 months from February last year to recently.

By period, patent applications were concentrated in April last year when the first wave of COVID-19 occurred, during July to August when the second wave was ongoing, and from January to April this year. This suggests that patent applications related to diagnostic technology increase alongside the rise in new confirmed cases.

Generally, COVID-19 diagnostic technology is divided into molecular diagnostics that detect viral genes (RNA) causing infectious diseases, and immunodiagnostics that detect proteins (antigens, antibodies) produced by the virus.

The number of patent applications by technology is counted as 91 for molecular diagnostic technology and 98 for immunodiagnostic technology.

However, looking at the trend of applications so far, while molecular diagnostic technology patents were relatively more common in the early stages, recently there has been an increasing trend in immunodiagnostic technology applications. KIPO attributes this to the demand for antibodies and diagnostics.

In the detailed application status of molecular diagnostic technology, it is classified into ▲real-time gene amplification technology (RT-PCR) with 39 cases ▲isothermal amplification technology with 26 cases ▲gene editing technology with 8 cases ▲and other technologies such as biomarkers with 18 cases.

Immunodiagnostics, which are easy to use and allow rapid confirmation of test results, have recently been increasingly utilized, with patent applications mainly in the antigen diagnosis sector (72 cases) and antibody diagnosis sector (12 cases).

Regarding the patent application status of diagnostic technology, the distribution was 24 cases from government agencies and public research institutes, 55 cases from universities, 95 cases from companies, 14 cases from individuals, and 1 case from foreigners.

Kim Hyun-tae, an examiner at KIPO’s Bio Healthcare Examination Division, said, “Patent applications related to diagnostic technology are expected to continue depending on the COVID-19 situation,” and added, “KIPO will actively support the development of related technologies through prompt and accurate examination.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.