Top 10 remains the same, big moves within the top 35
According to The Patent Board's Medical Devices & Services Patent Scorecard™ published in The Wall Street Journal, only minor ranks shifts within the top
10, with Arkray, Hologic and Cameron Health making strides
(Chicago - October 14, 2008) - The top three companies in the Medical Devices & Services Patent Scorecard remain in the
same rank with Medtronic, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), and Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) (Natick,
Massachusetts, USA) and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA) ranking 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
These companies continue to dominate the top three spots with large portfolios and above average Industry ImpactTM, meanwhile
both Medtronic and BSC improved their Research Intensity™ scores by 18 and 10% respectively. Medtronic is aggressively
maintaining their number one spot having a 29% increase in filings this year.
Covidien, Ltd. (Pembroke, Bermuda) increased by one spot this quarter to rank 4th with a 17% increase in Industry ImpactTM and
despite a smaller portfolio, is gaining on 3rd ranked J&J. Dropping one spot to 5th this quarter is Masimo Corporation (Irvine,
California, USA), with lower patents issued relative to the top 10, but with high impact. However, as their patent application
filings increased by 83% over last year we may see them move up once again.
Arthrocare Corporation (Austin, Texas, USA) was able to maintain its top 10 spot and even increased its already impressive
Industry ImpactTM score by 21% to 7.288. Their Research Intensity™ score also improved, increasing by 11% for a score of
6.82, and is not only the highest among the top 10, but second highest within the entire Medical Device scorecard. Research
Intensity™ shows the degree to which a company's portfolio of patents references scientific articles as compared to the industry.
Arthrocare is citing numerous journals in the fields of Biomedical Research, Clinical Medicine and Physics.
Arkray Inc (Kyoto, Japan) is gaining fast to step into the top 10 by increasing five spots last quarter and three this quarter to land
in 11th. They saw a 5% increase in patenting, a 10% increase in Industry ImpactTM and a 44% increase in Research Intensity™.
Arkray is developing products for diabetes testing, urinalysis as well as other test equipment for the medical industry.
Additionally, there are several other smaller patenting companies that are making big moves within the top 35. Hologic Inc
(Bedford, Massachusetts, USA), who develops and manufactures diagnostic, imaging and surgical products specifically geared
towards women's health jumped 15 spots to land in 19th position, primarily due to their recent acquisition of Cytyc Corp. Another
big mover is Cameron Health Inc (San Clemente, California, USA), who rose 19 spots to land in 20th position, increased in both
patent volume by 27% as well as Industry ImpactTM by 44%. Cameron Health also holds the third spot for Research Intensity™,
with a score of 6.43. Cameron Health is a development stage company creating new implantable electronic devices to regulate
heart rates not available through current technologies and similar to many companies with newly created technologies they have a
high degree of internal citation.
An interesting sub-industry within the Medical Device scorecard is companies involved in imaging related medical equipment,
many of which are conglomerates. These companies are trending similarly in many of the patent metrics portrayed. General
Electric Company (Fairfield, Connecticut, USA) and Siemens AG (Munich, Germany), both remain in the top 10 with high
patent volume; in fact, GE has the third highest volume in the scorecard. Not far behind are Philips Electronics NV and Hitachi
Ltd, in 12th and 13th place respectively. There are several other imaging companies in the top 35 and all of these companies have
trends of lower than average Industry ImpactTM, low Research IntensityTM, as well as, lower Innovation Cycle TimeTM. So
compared to all of medical devices they are not ranking high in two of the three quality indicators, however considering the vast
difference between imaging technology and invasive therapies, this is explainable. Aforementioned Hologic has the highest
Industry Impact™ and Research Intensity™ among the imaging companies and is definitely a company to keep an eye on.
Meanwhile, Canon Inc has the lowest Innovation Cycle Time™ in addition to rising 18 spots this quarter landing them in 30th
position.
There are a total of 122 companies represented in the Medical Devices & Services Industry Patent Scorecard™, 27 are also
represented in other patent scorecard industries. The companies in this industry develop and manufacture medical equipment,
apparatus, instruments, devices and supplies. It includes items such as diagnostic test kits, monitoring and exam equipment,
visual and hearing testing and supplies, surgical implements and implantable devices.
The Patent Board Scorecard Ranks Medtronic Inc. as #1 Innovator in Medical Devices & Services Industry
| Previous Rank | Current Rank | Company | Patent Granted* | Science Strength™ |
Innovation Cycle Time™ | Industry Impact™ | Technology Strength™ | Research Intensity™ |
|---|
| 1 | 1 | Medtronic Inc | 343 | 2271.8 | 10.9 | 1.444 | 644.12 | 1.3 |
| 2 | 2 | Boston Scientific Corp | 393 | 3024.8 | 10.1 | 1.181 | 600.08 | 1.61 |
| 3 | 3 | Johnson & Johnson | 222 | 873 | 10.5 | 1.366 | 391 | 0.97 |
| 5 | 4 | Covidien Ltd | 136 | 824.8 | 12.3 | 2.123 | 373.06 | 1.75 |
| 4 | 5 | Masimo Corp | 20 | 99 | 6.9 | 13.626 | 358.76 | 1.2 |
| 7 | 6 | General Electric Co | 290 | 661.5 | 8 | 0.703 | 264.26 | 0.71 |
| 6 | 7 | Abbott Laboratories | 75 | 1038 | 8.8 | 2.463 | 240.43 | 1.87 |
| 8 | 8 | St. Jude Medical Inc | 146 | 422 | 9.5 | 0.973 | 182.83 | 1.06 |
| 9 | 9 | Siemens AG | 209 | 134.5 | 8.2 | 0.618 | 167.61 | 0.42 |
| 10 | 10 | Arthrocare Corp | 14 | 2368.3 | 10.3 | 7.288 | 130 | 6.82 |
About The Patent Board Indicators
Patents Granted - equals the number of U.S. patents granted in a given year, excluding design and other special-case
inventions.
Science Strength™ - ranking measure to indicate how much a company uses science in building its patent portfolio with a
combined measure of science and quantity.
Innovation Cycle Time™ - indicates whether a patent or patent portfolio is building off newer or older inventions (art).
Industry Impact™ - indicates the extent to which others are building upon a portfolio of issued US utility patents as compared
to the total set of utility patents.
Technology Strength™ - ranking measure to indicate an overall strength of the company's patent portfolio holdings with a
combined measure of quality and quantity.
Research Intensity™ - indicates the extent to which a portfolio includes patents with above average Science Linkage as
compared to the control group.
About The Patent Board
The Patent Board is the world's leading business-based patent advisor to Fortune 500 companies, technology-based start-ups, law
firms, investment banks, and governments.?? With four decades of experience, The Patent Board utilizes proprietary data, tools,
and analytics to leverage patent-based Intellectual Property as an asset class.?? The Patent Board has offices in Chicago and
Philadelphia.
Media Contact: Christine Wren, Marketing & Publishing, cwren@patentboard.com or +1.312.205.7037
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