August 2026 Missouri Patent of the Month: A Breakthrough in Therapeutic Gas Delivery
Every so often, a technological leap fundamentally improves patient care. This is the case with US Patent 12673174, titled “Methods and systems of supplying therapeutic gas,” which has officially been named the patent of the month for the Missouri state for the month of August 2026. This prestigious recognition highlights the ingenuity of the assignee, INCOBA, LLC (doing business as Dynaris), whose medical device innovations can be explored at https://dynaris.com/. The company has developed a transformative approach to delivering oxygen and other therapeutic gases that drastically improves device efficiency and patient outcomes.
The core of this invention by INCOBA, LLC revolves around precise timing, and this remarkable level of innovation is exactly why it won patent of the month for the Missouri state for the month of August 2026. Traditional gas conservers supply a bolus of oxygen at the start of inhalation, but detecting that exact moment has always been a technical challenge. By sensing the exhalation airflow trending toward zero and recognizing the subtle change in the airflow rate just prior to the contiguous inhalation, this new system can deliver the bolus of therapeutic gas to the proximal end of a nasal cannula much earlier in the breathing cycle. This ensures the gas travels deeply into the lungs to reach the pulmonary alveoli, rather than being wasted in the upper airway.
From a business and development perspective, the practical applications of this patent make it a prime candidate for the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit in the USA. To implement this patented technology into a commercially viable product, a company would need to engage in extensive systematic experimentation. The engineering process requires designing advanced sensors capable of detecting minute pressure changes, developing proprietary algorithms to predict the exact moment exhalation transitions into inhalation, and integrating these software and hardware components into a functional prototype. Furthermore, putting the device through rigorous testing to ensure reliable performance across diverse patient breathing patterns perfectly aligns with the four-part test required by the IRS. The technical uncertainties involved in creating a real-world medical device based on this patent ensure that the substantial costs of software development, engineering, and clinical evaluation can qualify for valuable R&D tax incentives.
