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Run your analysis now →A patent landscape review of consensus scoring functions for structure-based virtual screening: filing trends, IPC composition, assignee concentration and
Consensus scoring combines the outputs of multiple scoring functions in structure-based virtual screening to improve the ranking of docked ligand poses over any single scoring method. Patent activity in this space sits at the intersection of bioinformatics, computational chemistry and drug design workflows, and the filings in scope reflect that mix: methods for calculating binding affinity, systems for combining multiple scores, and applications of those scores to compound selection. This is a comparatively small, still-forming corpus rather than a mature, heavily litigated one — 23 patent families span nearly two decades, with the bulk of activity concentrated in the last several years.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent filing years in this dataset are undercounted and should not be read as a slowdown. The 2024 peak of 3 families is the last year that can be treated as materially complete.
Counted over all 23 published records, including filings from before 2007; the filing-trend chart below covers only the 12 records from 2007 onward, so the two charts are not the same set of documents. Ordered by volume only, not by importance or claim strength. Counted in published records, so one invention filed in several countries counts more than once. Names come from Patsnap's standardised assignee field as recorded on each document; subsidiaries and group companies are not merged. The icon before each name is read from the name itself (words such as University, Institute or Ltd); the data carries no organisation-type field, so treat it as a reading aid rather than a classification. Filings held by named individuals rather than organisations are removed where they can be identified (4 here); that identification is not exhaustive, so an individually held filing can still appear below. Either way those filings stay inside the totals above. This table shows the top 13 of the 13 filers returned for this search; the data endpoint returns at most 100 entities, so even that 13 is not the complete set of filers. A single record can name more than one filer, so these counts overlap and do not add up to the total.
Two views of the same 23-family dataset: how filing activity has moved over time, and which technology classes those filings actually claim against.
Filing starts from a single 2007 record and stays sparse through the following decade, then builds toward a 2024 peak of 3 families. The +50% rise from 2021 (2 families) to 2024 (3 families) is the clearest signal of momentum available in this data; years after 2024 are still filling in and should not be read against that trend.
Counted in published records by earliest filing year, not de-duplicated into families. A filing is counted in the year it was filed, but it only becomes visible after it publishes: roughly 18 months for most routes, and up to 30 months where a PCT application enters national phase. 2022 onwards are therefore still filling in and are shaded; no growth figure on this page uses them. Because this series counts documents rather than inventions, a rise can mean more inventions or the same inventions filed in more countries; this dataset cannot separate the two. This chart covers 2007-2026 (12 records); the 23 total quoted above includes earlier filings outside the window.
G16B (bioinformatics) appears in 56.5% of the 23 records in scope, ahead of G06F (electric digital data processing) at 43.5% and G01N (material analysis and testing) at 39.1%. C07B (general organic chemistry methods) and G16C (computational chemistry) sit lower, at 34.8% and 30.4% respectively, with G06N (AI-based computing) and C07K (peptides and proteins) trailing at 13.0% and 8.7%. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares add up past 100% and should be read as coverage, not as a breakdown of a whole.
Shares are the percentage of the 23 published records in scope. One published record can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about consensus scoring function for structure-based virtual screening patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA method for structure-based drug design that predicts ligand binding affinities from a score generated by a scoring function accounting for protein structure, ligand structure and ligand position in the binding site. The scoring function is built using data on both active and inactive ligands, the inclusion of inactive-ligand data is presented as the key departure from prior scoring approaches.Filed 2009-01-08 by Dmitry Gennadievich Tovbin.


Selected as the first record the search returns under the database default order, then shown in full. It is not ranked by citations, claim breadth or commercial importance, and it is not a judgement about which filing in this space matters most.
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →Four observations drawn directly from the filing trend, the IPC composition and the assignee ranking.
The rise from 2 families in 2021 to 3 in 2024 is a jump in a field this size, but the absolute numbers mean any single new filing changes the shape of the landscape. Treat the growth rate as directional, not as evidence of a saturated space.
The leading assignee holds 7 families, ahead of the field, while fifth and tenth place are tied at 2 families each. That gap suggests one early or aggressive filer rather than an industry-wide land grab.
More records claim under G16B bioinformatics than under C07B organic chemistry methods (34.8%) or C07K peptides and proteins (8.7%). Filers are more often protecting the computational scoring method than the chemical output of screening.
United States filings (9) and WIPO/PCT filings (7) account for most of the documented receiving-office activity, with UK, EPO, AT and Australia contributing smaller counts. That pattern points to US-first filing with PCT used to preserve international options.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to consensus scoring function for structure-based virtual screening patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
The figures above describe the field as it stands; the next step is usually to test a specific claim, company or gap against the full document set.
With one assignee holding 7 families against a field of 17 ranked companies, a freedom-to-operate review should start with that leader's claim scope before assuming the space is open.
Run an FTO check in EurekaG06N (AI-based computing) and C07K (peptides and proteins) sit at the low end of the IPC composition, which can mean either little interest or an opening not yet claimed.
Explore white space in EurekaBecause 2025–2026 filings are still being published, tracking new entries against the 2024 peak is the fastest way to confirm whether the +50% growth trend continues.
Set up monitoring in EurekaThis dataset documents 23 published patent families matching consensus scoring and structure-based virtual screening search terms, covering filings from 2007 through the 2026 data cut-off. The field is small relative to many pharmaceutical patent categories, and the ranking of assignees covers 17 companies in total. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true count for 2025 and 2026 filings will rise as more records publish.
The ranked assignee list contains 13 companies, with the leader holding 7 families, a clear lead over the rest of the field, where fifth place and tenth place are tied at 2 families each. That pattern is closer to one early mover with a long tail of smaller filers than a crowded multi-company race. It is worth checking the leader's specific claim scope before assuming broad freedom to operate.
Filing activity grew from 2 families in 2021 to 3 in 2024, a +50% increase over that three-year span, following a long stretch of sparse activity since the first documented filing in 2007. Years after 2024 currently show fewer records, but that reflects publication lag rather than an actual drop in filing, patent applications typically take about 18 months to publish. The 2024 peak of 3 families is the most recent year that can be treated as reasonably complete.
The strongest overlap is with G16B bioinformatics, present in 56.5% of the 23 records in scope, followed by G06F electric digital data processing at 43.5% and G01N material analysis and testing at 39.1%. Organic chemistry methods (C07B) and computational chemistry (G16C) appear in roughly a third of records each, while AI-based computing (G06N) and peptide/protein claims (C07K) are less common. Since records can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures describe overlapping coverage rather than a single breakdown of the whole field.
The IPC composition shows G06N (AI-based computing, 13.0% of records) and C07K (peptides and proteins, 8.7%) are the least-claimed classes among the eight tracked here, which can indicate either genuine white space or simply less commercial interest so far. A practical next step is comparing the leader's 7-family portfolio against those lighter classes to see whether the gap is real or just under-filed. Reviewing the full claim text of the representative filing, US20090012767A1, is also useful groundwork since it establishes an early baseline for how scoring-function claims have been drafted in this space.
Go past this page: query the whole consensus scoring function for structure-based virtual screening patent landscape corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
Search. Every figure on this page comes from one Patsnap search, run once and not edited afterwards. This is the exact search string:
TAC:(("consensus scoring" OR "scoring function") AND ("structure-based" OR "structure based") AND ("virtual screening" OR docking))
Reading the field codes: TAC searches the title, abstract and claims of each record, not the full description. The search string sets no date limit, so the scope is every matching record in the database regardless of when it was filed. It is not restricted to recent years. How this string was built matters for how far the counts can be pushed. It was generated in batch from a topic list rather than hand-crafted for this page, and the result set is not manually screened. A keyword search over title, abstract and claims both over-captures (unrelated filings that happen to use the same words) and under-captures (the same invention written in different words). This page cannot measure either effect, so read every figure here as what this particular string returned, not as what exists in the field.
What is being counted. Two different units appear on this page and they are not interchangeable. The filer list and the technology split are counted in simple (DOCDB) patent families: one invention counts once however many countries it was filed in. The total, the jurisdiction split and the filing-year chart are counted in published records: the same invention counts once per publication. Record counts reward filing in many jurisdictions; family counts do not. Shares are only ever taken against a denominator in the same unit, and each one names it.
Who the filers are. Names come from Patsnap's standardised assignee field, as recorded on the documents themselves. They are not rolled up to corporate group: a parent and its subsidiaries appear as separate entries, and a portfolio acquired from another company stays under the name on the document unless the assignment is reflected there. This list is meant to carry organisations, not people. Filings held by a named individual are identified by matching the assignee against the inventors on the same search, and, for names written in Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters, by the name carrying no organisational suffix; those are removed from the list (4 of them here). Neither test is exhaustive: the inventor list it matches against is itself capped, and a personal name written in Latin script with no organisational wording in it cannot be told apart from a short company name by rule. So an individually held filing can still appear in the list. Those filings stay inside every total and share on this page either way, so the listed entries can add up to less than the total. A record shown in full further down still names its assignee exactly as the patent office records it, including where that is a person: that name is how the record is identified and checked. What is left out of the ranking is people as ranked entries, not people as cited sources. The table shows the top 13 of the 13 filers returned, ordered by count alone; the data endpoint returns at most 100 entities, so even that 13 is not every filer. One published record can name several filers and each is counted separately, so these rows are not slices of a divided whole: adding them together over-counts, and this page deliberately publishes no combined "top five" share for that reason. See every filer, individuals included
Dates. The year chart counts by earliest filing year, not publication year. A filing only becomes visible once it publishes: roughly 18 months for most routes, and up to 30 months where a PCT application enters national phase. Measured across these pages, the year four back from today still holds only about 89% of its eventual count. 2022 onwards are therefore shaded on the chart as still filling in. The data behind this page was retrieved shortly before the publication date shown above.
Legal status. Legal status was not available for this search, so no in-force figure is shown. Get the status breakdown in Eureka
Classification. The technology split uses IPC subclasses (four characters, for example H01M). A single record usually carries several, so the shares add up to more than 100% and a record can appear in more than one bar. Subclass is a coarse grouping; it describes the field a record was classified into, not what the claims cover. Break the classes down to subgroup level
Who wrote the words. The tables, charts, counts, shares and patent numbers on this page are produced directly from the search result by a program; none of them are written or estimated by a language model. The surrounding prose, headings, FAQ answers and the answers in the question panel are drafted by a language model that is given those same figures and is not permitted to introduce others. Prose can still mis-describe a correct figure, so where the two disagree, the tables and charts are the record.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries limitations that apply to every figure above. Recent filings are under-counted, because an application is not public until roughly 18 months after filing and database loading adds further delay. The search string defines and constrains everything shown: records that use different terminology, or that sit outside the fields searched, are absent and cannot be counted. Applicant names, classification codes, legal-status codes and citation records are taken as recorded and may contain errors, duplicates, omissions or stale entries. Ordering by volume is not a measure of quality, scope, enforceability or commercial value, and a larger portfolio is not a stronger one. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, validity or infringement search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is created by it. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently against the primary records and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
The question panel. The answers behind the suggested questions on this page were written when the page was generated, not in response to your click. The progress steps that play before an answer appears are an animation of how that analysis was done; nothing is being searched or computed at that moment. Typing your own question instead opens Patsnap Eureka, which does run it live.
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