Combatting cancer: What patents tell us about Europe's position in oncology

Welcome to The Tech Fingerprint, your monthly briefing on the technologies shaping the future. With World Cancer Day underscoring the disease’s profound global impact, we now turn to the technologies advancing the fight against cancer.

In this edition: 

• 🔬 Europe’s oncology innovations 
• 🧪 Growth in immunotherapy 
• 🥼 Sirpa and Markku Jalkanen’s groundbreaking therapeutic invention 

Let’s start!  

Growth in European innovation, shrinking global share

Cancer remains one of the most urgent health challenges of our time. As technologies to combat the disease advance at remarkable speed worldwide, patent data points to a shifting landscape: Europe retains considerable inventive strength, yet its momentum has eased as other regions accelerate. 

📊 Which regions lead in cancer-combatting technologies? (from 2010 until now) 

• ⭐ United States: Leading with nearly 47 000 international patent families
• 📈 China: Fastest growth rate, surpassing Europe in yearly filings
• ➖ Europe: Strong position with over 25 000 international patent families, but shrinking global share

Europe’s foundations for success remain exceptional

• 🏛️ 6 of the world’s top 10 patent applicants in the field of cancer technologies are European 
• 🎓 Public research organisations such as France’s INSERM & CNRS are among the global leaders 

The bottleneck? Scaling.

Europe actually has more oncology startups than the US (1 498 vs. 1 325), but far fewer reach late-growth stage (370 vs. 518). You can browse oncology startups in Europe across 17 technical areas on our Deep Tech Finder.

This trend matters. Europe has the research excellence, talent and scientific capacity to compete, but unless more young firms scale successfully, it risks falling behind in the technologies that will shape the future of cancer care.

👉 Want to learn more? This EPO study explores the most promising areas in the fight against cancer across 28 technologies and highlights the key players that are driving progress. Find all studies and more resources in the EPO's Digital Library.   

Immunotherapy: from scepticism to scientific frontier

Once seen as an experimental approach, immunotherapy, which works by engaging the body’s own immune system, has grown into one of the most dynamic areas in cancer treatment, and a major focus of research and patenting activity. Today, it accounts for around one in four cancer-related patent filings, and filings in the area more than doubled between 2015 and 2021.   

🧪 What technologies make up immunotherapy? 

• 📈 Antibodies: Still emerging but already largest field
• ➖ Small-molecule immunomodulators: An established technology, but lower growth
•  🚀 Cellular therapies: The fastest growing technology, increasing globally
• 🧪 Vaccines: Still emerging, but smaller
• 🔬 Cytokines / Oncolytic viruses: Established active niches, still growing

Cellular therapies, which include CAR T-cell therapy, stand out as the most dynamic segment of immunotherapy – they have the youngest patents and filings are growing at the fastest rate. 

Over the past decade, European filings in cellular therapies have increased roughly six-fold. Nevertheless, European applicants’ overall share of filings has declined, reflecting just how rapidly innovation in cellular immunotherapy is accelerating worldwide. The United States continues to surge well ahead of the rest, while China has also seen significant growth.  

👉 Our Technologies combatting cancer platform brings together 130+ datasets across 200+ diseases, from prevention to aftercare, offering easy access to expert patent searches. 

Meet the team driving next-generation immunotherapy 

Europe’s strength in cancer innovation lies in its deep scientific base, with breakthroughs often emerging from universities and research labs. A standout example is Sirpa and Markku Jalkanen, the founders of Faron Pharmaceuticals and finalists for the 2024 European Inventor Award. From its origins as a family startup, Faron has grown into a publicly listed company worth €279 million. Their invention, bexmarilimab (Clevegen), targets some of the blood cancers that do not respond to standard chemotherapy treatment, giving hope to thousands.  

👉 Women inventors like Sirpa Jalkanen are driving innovation in immunotherapy and cancer technologies. Did you know that women now account for nearly 35% of inventors in biotechnology? Learn more from our forthcoming Advancing women in STEM study and join our free online launch event on 3 March. Register here.

Policy updates: transforming cancer prevention and care 

The EU established its Beating Cancer Plan in 2021. To mark World Cancer Day this month, Members of the European Parliament debated how to strengthen EU action on cancer and voted to adopt a resolution renewing their political commitment, funding and co-ordination to ensure the Plan’s full implementation.  

In parallel, the UK government has launched a 10-year National Cancer Plan for England. At its core is a clear target: three in every four people diagnosed in 2035 will either be cancer-free or living well with cancer after five years. The plan focuses on increased investment and faster adoption of innovations such as immunotherapy, cancer vaccines, and frontier AI and robotic technologies to detect hard-to-find cancers earlier.  

Science meets startup: public research on the rise

In this Talk Innovation episode, immunologist and cancer researcher Jérôme Galon (INSERM) explains how his research led to real-world impact through his cancer diagnostics company, HalioDx.

Thank you for reading The Tech Fingerprint.   

Don’t forget to subscribe and let us know in the comments what you think needs to be done to ensure more European biotech startups reach late growth stages, and which technologies you’d like to read about next.