Global Research on Medical Cotton - Evidence from Patent Landscape Study

Abstract

Application of cotton has global demand in healthcare field for protection of injury site, control of bleeding, prevention from contamination of wound from foreign bodies and absorption of secretion. Inventions on medical cotton have been started from the year 1850, but the growth of technology has been observed after the year 1900. The present study aims to analyze the trend of inventions on medical cotton on the basis of patent documents retrieved from USPTO, EPO, WIPO, PAJ, IPIndia, and Free Patents Online (FPO). Analysis of patent documents are performed on the basis of filing year, publication year, geographical locations, assignees, families, International Patent Classification (IPC), citations and applications of inventions. Strengths and weaknesses of the global research on medical cotton are also clearly mentioned. Areas where further researches are needed are highlighted by a White-Space analysis. Participation of India on medical cotton is meager, but the possibility is enormous.