A 20-year patent review and innovation trends on hydrogel-based coatings used for medical device biofabrication

AbstractThis patent review encapsulates information that could be used as a reference by researchers in the fields of coatings and interfaces, biofabrication, tissue engineering, biomaterials, and biomedical engineering, as well as those especially interested in the formulation of hydrogel coatings. The state has been reviewed by introducing what has been innovated, invented, and patented in relation to hydrogel coatings. A detailed analysis of the patentability of hydrogel applications, such as the coating of medical devices to enhance their clinical performance, has been provided. During a search, 2937 patent documents were found. 2012 was the year with the most patent documents (177). Based on the patent classification, all patent documents and most inventions are intended for biomaterials for coating prostheses characterized by their function or physical properties, such as macromolecular materials, hydrogels, and biologically active materials. Additionally, research based on medicinal formulations with unique physical forms is concentrated in the majority of patents, according to knowledge clusters and expert driving factors. Finally, to demonstrate the innovation trends in hydrogel-based coatings, a selection of relevant patent applications and granted patents is proposed at the end of this paper, along with some examples of commercial products based on the patented technologies.Keywords: polymershydrogel coatingsbiofabricationmedical devicesinnovationpatent landscape AcknowledgmentsC.H.A. gratefully acknowledges the CNRST (Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique) in Morocco for the PhD scholarship (PBER 2022). C.H.A. and A.F. acknowledge the World Intellectual Property Organization for the Patentscope search service, the European Patent Office for the Espacenet search service, the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the PatFT/AppFT databases, and the Cambia Institute for The Lens patent data set used in this study.Author contributionsConceptualization, A.F.; methodology, C.H.A. and A.F.; investigation, C.H.A.; writing—original draft preparation, C.H.A.; writing—review and editing, C.H.A. and A.F.; supervision, A.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.Disclosure statementThe authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in this article.FundingThe authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.Data availability statementThe data presented in this study is available within this article.