Start with the shift, because it is the story. In the early years, CRISPR patents were overwhelmingly about the tool — the enzymes, the guides, the cutting chemistry. By 2022, an increasing share were about what the tool is for: named diseases, named tissues, named fixes.
The foundational layer hadn't gone away. The Broad Institute's grant US11352647B2 on CRISPR enzymes and systems shows the core machinery patents were still issuing in 2022 — the platform owners kept extending their estate.
But layer the therapeutic filings on top and the trend is clear. Publication US20220081680A1 covers materials and methods for treating a specific inherited eye disease, autosomal dominant cone-rod dystrophy. That is not a tool claim — it is a disease claim.
And the engineering kept improving in parallel. Rutgers' US11390886B2 describes a nuclease-independent targeted gene-editing platform — a sign that even the 'how' was diversifying beyond the original cut-and-repair approach.
The usual caution applies: counting filings tells you where effort is going, not which programs will reach patients. A disease-specific patent is a bet, and most bets in drug development lose. Three converging filings is a trend in intent, not a guarantee of approvals.
Still, the directional read is hard to miss. By the numbers, 2022 was the year CRISPR's patent center of gravity tilted from the workbench toward the clinic — foundational tool claims still issuing underneath, disease claims stacking on top.