With the issuance of US Pat. No. 10,842,997, Boston Scientific has gained a small lead in the AI Biotech: Neurology sector as the end of 2020 draws near. The ‘997 patent is the 13th patent granted to Boston Scientific in the Neurology Sector this year. In addition, the company also had 7 patent applications published, bringing its Neurology IP portfolio for 2020 to a total of 20 documents. Although there are still a few weeks left in the year, the ‘997 patent places Boston Scientific just ahead of IBM Corporation who so far has had 18 documents published in the sector this year.

The ‘997 patent issued to Boston Scientific is titled “Machine learning to optimize spinal cord stimulation”, and teaches a method which utilizes AI to determine the most effective electrical pulse sequence and intensity for neurostimulation treatment on the spinal cord. Interestingly, while both IBM and Boston Scientific are competing for the lead in the sector, much of their IP does not overlap. Using the Patent Forecast ® , it is evident that Boston Scientific is focused more toward general assessment and neuromodulation, while IBM tends to focus more on mental state and specific condition detection. It is unclear whether the two companies are purposefully focusing their research and IP around each other, or whether this is just a coincidence. What is clear though is that the two companies greatly outnumber their competitors in the neurology sector for IP documents this year. The nearest other competitors are the University of California, Epilepsyco Inc. and Neurostim Technologies LLC, all of which have 7 total documents each for the year. While Boston Scientific may be the IP leader for 2020, IBM still has an edge over Boston Scientific when considering patent activity for the past 5 years, leading the neurology sector by 11 documents. Make sure to check out our Patent Forecast ® for AI Biotech/Diagnostics  to find out whether Boston Scientific is able to hold onto its lead for the year.