European startups at the forefront of the fight against cancer

On the eve of World Cancer Day, our new study shows wide variations between leading countries in the profiles of startups for new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. 

The latest study published today by the European Patent Office (EPO) shows in greater detail than ever before the different development rates for new technologies to detect and defeat cancer. “New frontiers in oncology: an evolving innovation ecosystem” focuses on the most promising technologies and the variations across regions, actors and sectors, helping policymakers, scientists, clinicians, entrepreneurs, and industry stakeholders to target their policies, research and investments.

Deep insight into recent innovation dynamics

The study presents data on those startups developing new oncology technologies, and the contributions made by universities, hospitals and public research organisations, as well as the differences between the US and Europe in terms of how many startups reach “late stage” growth. The study shows that Europe is unable to keep up with patent filings from the US and China in the fastest growing fields of cancer innovation, even though Europe is home to the highest number of oncology-related startups.

The study looked at patent filings in 28 cancer technology fields and found wide variations in growth rates, as well as in the absolute number of international patent families (IPFs). In the most recent period (2015-2021), the highest growth fields – as measured by annual growth rates for IPFs – include technologies such as cellular immunotherapy (+37.8%), gene therapy (+31.0%), image analysis (+19.6%), liquid biopsies (+17.2%), and healthcare informatics (+14.7%).

"In light of Mario Draghi's report on the future of European competitiveness, the findings of this study serve as a wake-up call for Europe's oncology innovation system,” said EPO President António Campinos. “As cancer-fighting technologies rapidly evolve and move in unexpected directions, Europe must respond to keep its competitive edge in healthcare innovation and save lives. Europe’s vibrant oncology startups are a bright spot, but they need investment and support to scale-up their inventions.”

US leads by global share of cancer-related inventions

The largest share of inventions is seen from applicants based in the United States. Their share has remained fairly stable at around 43%. Conversely, the share of applicants based in the EU27 has dropped from 18.7% (2010-2012) to 12.4% in a period (2019-2021) during which patenting activity in oncology boomed.

Growth in patenting from applicants in P.R. China has delivered the most significant increase in recent years in most high growth fields, with the growth seen in the country’s private sector now far exceeding that in its public sector (e.g. universities, hospitals and public research organisations and hospitals). IPFs for cancer-related technologies from China increased more than fourfold over the period 2015-2021.

European startups stronger in early growth phases

According to the study, almost 1 500 startups are based in the EPO’s 39 member states, compared to just 1 325 in the US. Within Europe, the UK has 290 startups, France 246 and Germany 208. While Europe has more startups in the seed and early growth phases, many more US startups scale up to the late growth stage. Nearly 40% of US cancer-related startups have reached this advanced stage, compared to just 24% in the EU and less than 27% in other EPO member states. US oncology startups hold nearly twice as many patents as their European counterparts, and this could be one factor in the disparity in funding, given the proven links between patent ownership and access to finance. The study also includes four case studies showing how startups founded by Europeans have leveraged their patent applications and granted patents to raise investment, license their inventions and secure market share.

Research sector is central to the oncology ecosystem

Universities, hospitals and public research organisations play a key role in cancer innovation. They are behind nearly half of all IPFs originating in the EU27 and named either directly as patent applicants or indirectly as the institution of the inventors on patent applications filed by companies sponsoring or benefitting from their research.

Expert platform helps share patent knowledge in the fight against cancer

A vast array of technical information is provided for free through the EPO’s public patent database Espacenet. To help scientists and researchers more easily explore our extensive global patent collections, ranging from diagnosis and informatics to therapies and aftercare, expert examiners from the EPO and national patent offices have prepared search strategies for over 130 different technical fields.

Deep Tech Finder links oncology startups with investors

The EPO is also making it easier to find both investment-ready startups and spinouts in Europe as well as to find those investors funding them. The free online Deep Tech Finder has profiles for over 1 400 oncology startups, allowing investors and innovators to review their funding histories and patent portfolios, and it includes filters for startups’ country, growth stage and technology field, including 17 different fields of oncology.

Background

Cancer remains a major health threat in Europe. Almost 25% of all cases in the world and over 20% of all deaths occur in Europe, despite the region having less than 10% of the world's population.

The study looked at international patent families (IPFs) – representing the more significant inventions in these fields, those important enough to their owners to merit patent protection in more than one territory. Using IPFs as a metric for innovation, the study contrasts the comparatively quiet period of 2010 to 2015 (44 352 IPFs) when the annual growth rate was barely 1.7%, to the significant boom more recently (2016 to 2021; 65 886 IPFs) when the annual growth rate exceeded 9.3%, more than three times the baseline growth for patenting in all technologies in general.

This second EPO study on cancer-fighting technologies includes contributions from experts at 20 national patent offices, co-ordinated by the EPO’s Observatory on Patents and Technology. These are the national patent offices of: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.