Patent Landscape Report on Coronary Stents

Introduction

Patent filings around the coronary stent hold great insights into the innovation, research and development within the space. With the help of Patent iNSIGHT Pro, we will analyze the full coronary stent patent data to find answers to the following:

• What has been the IP publication trend for Coronary Stents development in general?
• Who are the top assignees or key players in coronary stent research and development?
• Which assignees hold the maximum inventions across different application areas of coronary stents?
• How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different material types?
• How is the innovation frequency across different stent materials?
• What materials are being used for stents and how do they compare across key application areas in the body?
• Which assignees hold the strongest patent portfolios for coatings for stents?
• Who are the prolific innovators in stent technology and how do their focus areas compare with each other?
• How are the records of top 5 assignees related based on their cross-citation relationships?

In order to analyze the stent records more effectively we classified all the records along three lines:

• Innovations on Application Areas of the stent in human body,
• Innovations on Materials used, and
• Innovations on Coatings used for stents

To get a more accurate and all round perspective on these the patent sets have been classified into these three categories.

Classifications by Application Areas

? Arterial re-stenosis or re-thrombosis
? Arteries in Abdomen
? Arteries in Chest
? Arteries in Kidney
? Arteries in Thigh
? Carotid Artery Stents
? Treatment of Atherosclerosis
? Treatment of Cancer

Classifications by Material Type

A. Metal Stents

? Bare Metal- Stainless Steel
? Bare Metal- Cobalt Chromium Alloy
? Bare Metal- Magnesium Alloys
? Bare Metal- Pure Iron
? Bare Metal- Nickel-Titanium Alloys
? Bare Metal- Platinum Iridium
? Bare Metal- Tantalum
? Bare Metal- Titanium
? Bio Degradable Metal Stents

Drug Coated/Eluting Stent- Current drug-eluting stents have three components:

i) The bare metal backbone, which serves as the mechanical scaffold – this element affects deliverability, access to side branch and surface area
over which the drug is delivered.
ii) A polymer or combination of polymers – this is a critical component. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Concerns have been expressed over the eventual degradation of the polymer and whether that will lead to inflammation. The specific polymer affects distribution kinetics of drug delivery.
iii) The specific drug – at the present time, there are two approved drugs – Sirolimus and paclitaxel. The release kinetics depends upon the specific drug chosen and the polymer. Both fast- and slow-release formulations have been tested. Multiple other drugs and drugs classes are being tested.

B. Non Metal Stents

? Bio-absorbable Non Polymer Stents
? Bio-absorbable Polymer Stents
? Bio-degradable Non Polymer Stents
? Bio-degradable Polymer Stents
? Fabric or stent grafts.

C. Others

? Co-polymers
? Silicone

D. Hybrid (metal & non-metal)

Biocompatible materials may be configured into any number of implantable medical devices including intraluminal stents.

• Biocompatible material may comprise metallic and non-metallic materials in hybrid structures. In one such structure, a device may be fabricated with one or more elements having an inner metallic core that is not degradable with an outer shell formed from a polymeric material that is
biodegradable. Additionally, therapeutic agents may be incorporated into the microstructure or the bulk material.
• Composite material stent comprising a metallic wire and a biodegradable fiber (hybrid stent)

Source:
//www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a909729623&db=all

Classifications by Coatings

Endothelial Cells
The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall.

? Inorganic Carbon
? Inorganic Gold
? Inorganic Iridium Oxide
? Inorganic Silicon Carbide
? Porous Material

IP Activity or Publication Trend

What has been the IP publication trend for Coronary Stents development in general?

When considering coronary stent patents as a whole, there is a clear upward trend in IP publication. 1997 appears to be the year when research around the coronary stent really picked up momentum with about 100 records and climbed from there over the next 13 years to over 400 records in 2009.From the publication trend it appears the late 80’s and early 90’s had some activity in this field but real pursuit for building IP around the coronary stent happened only more recently in the last decade and has been quite consistent since.2007 would mark the peak publication mark in the trend with around 500 records for the year and a slight dip follow in the next years. Going by the current trend for 2010, it seems IP activity
around coronary stents is still going strong.

Top Assignee Trends

Who have been the top assignees or the key players in Coronary Stents?

Considering cumulative patent filing trends Boston Scientific has the most remarkable figures for IP publications for coronary stents (that may also perhaps result from their acquisitive strategy in the space – See Assignee Normalization in Appendix A). Abbott Labs, Johnson & Johnson with Medtronic Inc make up the next ranks in terms of IP publications.While all these four companies have made consistent advances in growing their IP portfolio with coronary stent patents, Boston Scientific appears to have made the biggest leaps from 2000