Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Patents
  • Published:

PATENTS

The declining impact of the US National Institutes of Health on cancer patenting

US Patent and Trademark Office data show a slowing of NIH-supported cancer patent innovation since 1995, amid criticism of an incremental rather than a high-risk, high-reward funding strategy.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Kolata, G. Grant system leads cancer researchers to play it safe. The New York Times (27 June 2009).

  2. Drazen, J. M. & Ingelfinger, J. R. N. Engl. J. Med. 349, 2259–2261 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fang, F. C. & Casadevall, A. MBio 7, e00422–16 (2016).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Nicholson, J. M. & Ioannidis, J. P. A. Nature 492, 34–36 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Salzberg, S. L. Nature 493, 26 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mervis, J. Science 338, 1274 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Transformation and Opportunity: The Future of the US Research Enterprise. https://orise.orau.gov/cdc/documents/pcast-future-research-enterprise.pdf (2012).

  8. Frumkin, J. & Myers, A. USPTO Cancer Moonshot patent data. https://developer.uspto.gov/product/cancer-moonshot-patent-data (19 August 2016).

  9. Chartrand, S. Patents: a coming court test on whether corn seed and mathematical instructions have similar status. The New York Times (12 March 2001).

  10. Lawrence, S. Nat. Biotechnol. 22, 930–931 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. USPTO. Utility examination guidelines (USPTO, 2001).

  12. Trajtenberg, M. Rand J. Econ. 21, 172–187 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author thanks S. Bechtold, B. Sampat, L. Wier and the participants of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics bioip Faculty Workshop, Atlanta, and the Inaugural Wiet Life Science Law Scholars Conference, Chicago, for comments and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raphael Zingg.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zingg, R. The declining impact of the US National Institutes of Health on cancer patenting. Nat Biotechnol 37, 722–723 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0165-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0165-4

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing