Life science and health care companies are increasingly turning to the Unified Patent Court (UPC) as a preferred forum to resolve patent disputes. Early proceedings in these sectors focused on biopharmaceutical and diagnostic technologies. However, in 2025, there was a notable rise in disputes concerning advanced therapy patents, particularly those asserted against mRNA vaccine providers.

The UPC handles patent disputes that concern European patents and European patents with unitary effect (Unitary patents). Unitary patents confer uniform and centralized protection across all participating EU Member States following grant, dispensing with national validation requirements of traditional European patents. As of early December 2025, approximately 20% of UPC cases related to life sciences and to health care. In the life sciences sector, litigation primarily involves traditional European patents, whereas a significant share of the litigated health care related patents are Unitary patents, reflecting industry sector-specific patent strategies.

Where an actual or threatened infringement occurs in several countries, Article 33(1) of the UPC Agreement allows claimants a degree of flexibility in selecting a UPC venue, referred to as local division (LD), for adjudication. Historically, German national courts have adjudicated the largest share of patent infringement disputes in Europe, and this trend persists under the UPC. The UPC's Munich, Düsseldorf, Mannheim, and Hamburg LDs collectively handled approximately two-thirds of all cases in 2025, underscoring their continued dominance in the UPC's caseload distribution. Within this overall pattern, health care and life sciences litigants continue to favor the Munich and Düsseldorf LDs; yet, The Hague LD has emerged as a significant venue, ranking third and second in these sectors, respectively. This rise may be attributed to the technical expertise in biochemistry and chemistry among its legally qualified judges, and its recent landmark judgments on equivalent patent infringement.

The prominence of The Hague LD is particularly evident in disputes involving mRNA vaccine providers that successfully brought COVID-19 vaccines to market. With the exception of a single case before the Munich LD, all proceedings concerning advanced-therapy patents have been concentrated before The Hague LD.

Companies engaged in the development of advanced therapy products should regard the UPC as a strategically significant forum for patent litigation, both in relation to freedom-to-operate assessments and patent portfolio management for enabling enforcement before the UPC. Furthermore, venue selection will remain a cornerstone of litigation strategy before the UPC.