Sir

Your Editorial “Wanted: social entrepreneurs” (Nature 434, 941; 2005) made several disparaging remarks about the academic technology-transfer profession to which I wish to respond.

You stated: “University technology offices tend to patent aggressively, look no further than generating income, and often fail to include provisions beneficial to tackling orphan diseases in their licensing deals with companies.”

First, the top priority of any office of technology transfer is to get a qualified company to make a serious commitment to develop each technology. Of course we negotiate hard to ensure that if the project is a success we are fairly compensated, but the most contentious part of most negotiations is generally not the financial terms but the due-diligence terms — the resource commitment that the company makes to develop the technology.

As Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, recently said in remarks to the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM): “Our interest in commercializing technology, in nurturing start-up companies and facilitating patents and licence agreements is not about the promise of future revenues. Of course, revenue generation serves as an incentive. But first and foremost, tech transfer must serve our core mission: sharing ideas and innovations in the service of society's well-being.”

Second, I disagree with your assertion that licensing offices are not sensitive to global health issues. In the AUTM 2003 Annual Survey, one of the transactions showcased was a new treatment for Chagas' disease discovered by Washington and Yale universities and licensed by them to the Institute for OneWorld Health, the company that was the focus of your Editorial.

Third, the contact you advocate with the Centre for the Management of Intellectual Property in Health Research and Development (MIHR) is already under way. For several years there has been a positive dialogue between AUTM and MIHR, largely driven by individuals who belong to both organizations. The focus of the 2006 Annual Meeting of AUTM is improving society, and the plenary session will focus on global health and the elimination of intellectual-property barriers to bringing advances in neglected diseases to the developing world.

The biggest challenge will be to get the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries — whose involvement in translating academic discoveries into safe and effective treatments is critical — to accept our proposals. But at least universities can provide leadership and start the discussion.