Intellectual property safeguards should be more widely incorporated into the bilateral contracts that underpin the translational R&D process to preserve the public interest, especially where public funds and resources have spearheaded the innovation process.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Gaviria, M. & Kilic, B. Nat. Biotechnol. 39, 546–548 (2021).
World Intellectual Property Organization. Patent Landscape Report: COVID-19-related vaccines and therapeutics: Preliminary Insights on related patenting activity during the pandemic (2022).
Contreras, J. U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 13, 435–512 (2023).
Nurse, P. Independent Review of the UK’s Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape: Final Report and Recommendations (March 2023); https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-development-and-innovation-organisational-landscape-an-independent-review
Anderson, M. J. Intellect. Prop. Law Pract. 2, 145–152 (2007).
Association of University Technology Managers. In the Public Interest: Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology (6 March 2007); https://www.autm.net/AUTMMain/media/Advocacy/Documents/Points_to_Consider.pdf
Van Norman, G. A. & Eisenkot, R. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. Basic Trans. Science 2, 197–208 (2017).
Anderson, M. Drafting Agreements in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries (Oxford Univ. Press, looseleaf, 2009 and onwards).
Contreras, J.L. Intellectual Property Licensing and Transactions: Theory and Practice (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).
Sciacchitano, S. & Bartolazzi, A. Front. Public Health 9, 647955 (2021).
Perehudoff, K. Lancet Reg. Health Eur. 16, 100375 (2022).
Wellcome Trust. Wellcome’s approach to equitable access to healthcare interventions (accessed 5 January 2024); https://wellcome.org/what-we-do/our-work/access-healthcare-interventions/wellcomes-approach-equitable-access-healthcare-interventions
US National Institutes of Health. Intellectual property policy (accessed 5 January 2024); https://grants.nih.gov/policy/intell-property.htm
Sampat, B. N. Res. Policy 35, 772–789 (2006).
Caulfield, T. & Ogbogu, U. BMC Med. Ethics 16, 70 (2015).
UK Intellectual Property Office. University and business collaboration agreements: Lambert Toolkit (6 October 2016, last updated 5 January 2022); https://www.gov.uk/guidance/university-and-business-collaboration-agreements-lambert-toolkit
TenU. The USIT Guide: Leading Universities and Investors Launch Set of Recommendations for the Innovation Sector (24 April 2023); https://ten-u.org/news/the-usit-guide
Eggington, E., Osborn, R. & Kaplan, C. Collaborative Research between Business and Universities: The Lambert Toolkit 8 Years On (2013); https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-lambert-toolkit-8-years-on
Swaminathan, S. et al. Nature 602, 207–210 (2022).
Slade, A. & Hawkins, N. Intell. Prop. Q. 1–30 (2023).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by ESRC Impact Acceleration Account 2019: Leicester (ES/T501967/1) and ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Sheffield (ES/T502017/1). The authors sincerely thank all participants at the project workshops held in February and March 2023. In particular, we thank J. Wilkinson, A. Walsh, M. Gibbs and A. Chaix, panelists at the event held on 23 March 2023. We also thank our research assistants N. Agrawal, L. Ensign, I. Ewelukwa and A. Mc Koy for their valuable help in the project. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the participants at the project workshops. All authors contributed equally.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, M., Hawkins, N. & Slade, A. Contracts and intellectual property rights in translational R&D: furthering safeguards in the public interest. Nat Biotechnol 42, 179–182 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02117-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-02117-8