The healthcare industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by telemedicine, real-time diagnostics, smart hospitals and access to digital therapies, and the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), robotics and data management practices. In the last three years alone, there have been over 106,000 patents filed and granted in the healthcare industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Genomics in Healthcare: Biological sample tracking & management. Buy the report here.

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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 443,000 patents to analyse innovation intensity for the healthcare industry, there are 200+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Biological sample tracking & management is a key innovation area in genomics

Biological sample tracking & management is an important task for healthcare institutions as it provides essential data to the health managers. These systems help to track the samples during the testing process and reduce misdiagnosis by correctly identifying the patient’s tissue sample.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies.  According to GlobalData, there are 20+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established healthcare companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of biological sample tracking & management.

Key players in biological sample tracking & management – a disruptive innovation in the healthcare industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to biological sample tracking & management

Company Total patents (2021 - 2023) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Waters 172 Unlock Company Profile
Labrador Diagnostics 54 Unlock Company Profile
Becton Dickinson and Co 44 Unlock Company Profile
YourBio Health 34 Unlock Company Profile
Colgate-Palmolive 20 Unlock Company Profile
Danaher 17 Unlock Company Profile
Lifecycle Technologies 16 Unlock Company Profile
Sony Group 15 Unlock Company Profile
Panasonic 12 Unlock Company Profile
Recruit Holdings 12 Unlock Company Profile
WerfenLife 12 Unlock Company Profile
Fujifilm Holdings 10 Unlock Company Profile
Menicon 10 Unlock Company Profile
NantWorks 9 Unlock Company Profile
MolecuLight 8 Unlock Company Profile
Sakura Global Holding 7 Unlock Company Profile
Genfit 7 Unlock Company Profile
Medtronic 7 Unlock Company Profile
Thermo Fisher Scientific 6 Unlock Company Profile
Dongwoon Anatech 5 Unlock Company Profile
Nippon Chemi-Con 5 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Waters is the leading patent filer in the biological sample tracking & management market. Some other leading patent filers include Labrador Diagnostics and Becton Dickinson.

In terms of application diversity, Recruit leads the pack, followed by Sakura Global and Labrador Diagnostics. By means of geographic reach, NantWorks held the top position, followed by Becton Dickinson and Lifecycle Technologies in second and third spots, respectively.  

In the future, we can expect biological sample tracking & management to have more detailed steps in the testing process to improve the accuracy of diagnostic tests. This would eventually help to reduce errors caused by mislabelled samples. Inbuilt scanners that can immediately recognise a sample will further improve the efficiency of biological sample tracking.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the healthcare industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Healthcare.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.