Digital transformation of the life sciences is well underway. Increasingly, the innovation driving this sector is not only biological but computational, and the IP landscape is adjusting accordingly. While patent portfolios have traditionally centred on drug products and biologics, a growing share of innovation relates to software platforms, data infrastructure, and AI-based discovery tools. These developments raise fresh questions for IP strategy, including how best to protect software innovation whilst navigating evolving legal hurdles and complex commercial considerations. This is particularly relevant as new entrants, including ‘techbio’ companies and big technology providers, take up a more prominent position in how new therapies are discovered and developed.

A Broader Innovation Base

The profile of innovators in the life sciences is broadening. Alongside long-standing pharmaceutical and biotech companies, the IP landscape now includes a growing number of digitally focused companies. This includes techbio firms using proprietary AI tools to identify and optimise therapeutic candidates, as well as technology companies that offer platforms designed to support life sciences R&D.

These shifts are reflected in patent filing data. According to the European Patent Office’s Patent Index, applications in biotechnology rose by over 5% in 2024, while filings in the pharmaceuticals category fell by 13.2%. In parallel, growth in filings related to computer technology, particularly those involving AI and machine learning, continues at pace across multiple jurisdictions, and at the EPO there are now as many filings related to this technology as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals combined.

A More Varied Innovation Ecosystem

While techbio companies are driving much of the recent activity, digital innovation is emerging across the board. Many life sciences companies now partner with software providers or choose to build out internal platforms that support tasks ranging from molecule screening and trial optimisation to data harmonisation. Patents are being filed not only for candidate drugs, but also for the systems used to find, validate and prioritise them [1], [2], including tools for analysing multimodal data, structuring clinical information, and automating repetitive lab tasks.

Some of these software innovations originate within pharmaceutical R&D teams, others are generated by third-party vendors. In any case, there is an increasing focus on digital tools that deliver competitive advantage, either through improved scientific accuracy or faster iteration. The result is a broader, more layered innovation environment in which software innovation, such as infrastructure and AI analytics software, could form as much of the IP backbone as the therapeutics themselves.

Strategic Collaborations and Ecosystem Partnerships

One notable feature of this landscape is the degree of collaboration. Partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and digital specialists, whether cloud providers, AI developers, bioinformatics start-ups or techbio companies, are now central to how new therapies are developed. These relationships often involve shared access to models, data, or discovery pipelines, meaning IP considerations must form part of the commercial discussion from the outset. The structure of these partnerships can shape how and where patents are filed, and by whom.

Observations from Industry Engagement

This shift in the innovation landscape was apparent at Bio-IT World 2025, which brought together stakeholders from pharmaceutical R&D, techbio, and technology infrastructure providers. While the event had a primarily technical focus, the direction of travel from an IP perspective was clear. Software for managing, standardising, and extracting insights from biological data is longer peripheral. It is rapidly becoming core to modern R&D pipelines.

The event also highlighted a trend of convergence. Life science companies are investing in digital capability, while digital companies are acquiring domain knowledge in biology and chemistry. The IP landscape is beginning to reflect this mutual movement, with hybrid patent portfolios that blend traditional pharmaceutical assets with digital and data-driven components such as AI being developed, especially by techbio companies.

Final Thoughts

The IP landscape in the life sciences is being shaped by a more diverse set of players than ever before. Alongside traditional pharmaceutical and biotech firms, techbio companies and software providers are now actively contributing to therapeutic innovation.  This has made IP strategy more complex, particularly when it comes to aligning patenting decisions with broader commercial goals. Some companies are focused on securing protection for drug candidates. Others are building defensible positions around proprietary platforms and discovery tools. Many are doing both.

Patenting software innovation brings a different set of commercial and legal considerations compared to traditional life science inventions. Software patents have a reputation for being difficult to obtain, but many of the perceived barriers can be overcome, and this is especially true for digital innovation in the life sciences. Other challenges arise when navigating the interface between life sciences and software, from unfamiliar patent objections to the shift in mindset needed to recognise and protect digital innovation. Our Digital Life Sciences & Bioinformatics team will be tackling these issues in an upcoming series of articles. As IP strategies in the life sciences evolve, the most effective patent portfolios are likely to be those that reflect the full complexity of the underlying innovation: biological, digital and everything in between.

References

[1] WIPO, Patent Landscape Report: Generative AI in Drug Discovery, 2024

[2] Nature Biotechnology, AI for drug discovery is booming — but who owns the IP?, 2023