Domestic Policy-NIH
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
As arguably the most important funder of domestic research and development (R&D), the U.S. government could play a huge role in improving access to medicine through creating opportunities for technology transfer to promote competition, and by implementing more progressive innovation policy.
Together, the National Institutes of Health are the world’s leading funder of medical research and development. But most publicly-funded inventions are later commercialized exclusively by companies at a high monopolist price. Public Citizen and a coalition of health and humanitarian organizations are asking NIH to exercise its rights to license the medical technologies it supports to international organizations, to facilitate humanitarian use, competition, and expand access to medicines.
- Letter: Knowledge Ecology International and Public Citizen ask the NIH for safeguards in patent license for HCV drug (April 14, 2015)
- Humanitarian Licensing: U.S. Government Licensing of Drugs and Medical Technologies to International Organizations
- Statutory Basis for Making Licenses to Federally-Funded Patented Invetions Available to International Organizations and Developing Countries
- Ebola: U.S. Government Funded Leading Ebola Vaccine Candidate and Other Ebola Medicines
- Aes-103: Ensuring Access to Aes-103 — Leading Sickle Cell Disease Treatment in Development
- GeneXpert: High Price of Publicly Funded GeneXpert TB Diagonostic Impedes Public Health Impact
- Gardasil: U.S. Government Funding of Critical Anti-Cancer Vaccine
- Knowledge Ecology International: Patents with US government interests declared: 2010-2013
Learn more about humanitarian licensing
March, 2013 – Knowledge Ecology International: US government rights in patents: 2010-2012 (links to keionline.org)
November 2, 2012 – Nature: NIH asked to grant open license on HIV drug (links to blogs.nature.com)
October 24, 2007 – Testimony of Robert Weissman, “The Role of Federally-Funded University Research in the Patent System” Before the Committee on the Judiciary
March 17, 2000 – DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala to Representative Jan Schakowsky on WHO access to Federally Funded Patent Rights (links to keionline.org)