BIO Convention 2012: Biotech IP and Tech Transfer Sessions

Posted under 2012 BIO International Convention, BIO convention, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, patent, Patently BIOtech, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy, Startups, Technology Transfer, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Recent court decisions and ongoing implementation of the America Invents Act are certain to impact the life sciences industry. The 2012 BIO International Convention will feature an educational track devoted to Biotech Patenting and Tech Transfer to discuss legal and legislative developments and how they are likely to impact biotech companies.   This year’s global event for biotechnology will take place June 18-21, 2012 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA.

Recent Developments in Patentability: Prometheus, Myriad, Classen, and the Patentability of Diagnostic Methods

Gain insights on major court cases—and the decision-making behind them—from a distinguished panel of patent law experts, attorneys and practitioners.

American Invents Act Comes to Campus: the Impact on Commercialization and Technology Transfer Offices

Panelists will discuss how the AIA affects universities and non-profit research institutions and what new strategies they can use to secure and enforce U.S. patents.  Learn pragmatic approaches to satisfy the AIA’s new requirements for patent procurement while improving your goals of timely technological disclosures.

IP Issues Affecting Biomarker Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine

A lively panel of international attorneys will get you up to speed on the impact that recent court cases, legislation and scientific issues—specific to inventions in the field of biomarkers and PM—have on patent procurement and protection. Have your questions ready for the audience Q&A!

Prior User Rights and Trade Secrets: A New IP Option Replacing Patents to Secure Freedom-to-Operate for Internally-Used Innovations in Biotechnology

Deciding whether it’s worth the trouble to patent internally-used technology? We will help you consider whether Prior User Rights, which serve as a defense against infringement of a later patent, might be a better option in your situation.

Academic Medical Centers: The New Pharma R&D Engine and Beyond

Developing 10% of all FDA-approved drug applications, AMCs are indispensible to life sciences. But academia-pharma partnerships are challenging. Looking at case studies of successful collaborations, we’ll uncover new pharma/biotech R&D strategies for partnering directly with AMCs to develop IP.

Challenges and Opportunities of Protecting and Managing IP Assets in Emerging Markets

How can you better protect your IP assets in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China—or will enforce IP at all? Gain a handle on the issues involved to determine what you want—and need—to do.

Measuring The Impacts of Innovation: What Is The Future of Tech Transfer?

Tech transfer metrics that focus on activity—rather than impact—are a case of the tail wagging the dog. Join a vibrant roundtable discussion on initiatives to create more meaningful metrics, ones that will be useful in developing strategies for future transfers.

Successful IP Strategies for Biotech Platform Technologies

Many standard IP strategies are a poor fit for companies like yours. We’ll share real-world strategies that are better tailored to your needs and can evolve with your company as it grows more product-driven.

Patenting Under the America Invents Act in Comparison with European Patent Practice

Get the inside scoop—and gain international perspective—as representatives from the European Patent Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office discuss First to File, Prior Art and Opposition Proceedings in the two systems.

The New World: Post-Grant Review In the United States–What Can We Learn From Past Experiences In Europe, Japan, India and Australia

Hot Topic! Explore the important changes AIA has brought to U.S. patent laws. In this interactive session, a panel of international experts will take you through other countries’ histories and the growing pains they experienced in developing their post-grant review systems.

IP Challenges to Personalized Medicine & Diagnostics (Personalized Medicine and Diagnostics Track)

Hot Topic! How might recent court decisions (e.g., Myriad, Classen, and Prometheus) and emotionally charged public perception affect the obtainability of personalized medicine patents? More broadly, what are the ramifications for other technologies—perhaps those of your company—if such inventions are deemed ineligible for patents?

Trust Issues: Dealing with Academia

Posted under academia, Blog, collaboration, Companies, Deals, Diagnostics, Funding, IP, leadership, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, partnerships, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Startups, Strategy, Technology, Technology Transfer, Universities, Videos by Ben Comer

Worried they might get taken for a ride, university tech transfer offices are beginning to hire ex-pharma and biotech personnel to help negotiate deals with industry.

On exiting a theater, writers are often astounded and dismayed by the film resulting from a screenplay they’ve sold to a producer. Punch-up writers have added corny jokes, directors have replaced nuanced dialogue with bombastic proclamation, and editors have substituted long-form visual narrative with jump cuts and montage. However, these collaborators – the directors, punch-up writers and editors – often determine whether a film is a commercial hit or a box office bomb. Writers and producers have to work together so that both parties are satisfied with the end result.

A similar relationship exists between scientists at academic institutions and the pharma industry; intellectual property is like a screenplay, in that it holds the potential for commercial gains, but it takes a team of different kinds of people to bring that potential to fruition. Academics who spend most of their time in the lab regard the commercialization process with skepticism; they may have concerns about the application of their discovery, or they may feel swindled by the financial arrangement.

With the proliferation of university partnerships in recent years, tech transfer offices have sought to provide intermediary staff that academics can trust, so they don’t automatically assume that industry has shown up in the lab for a fleecing. “University tech transfer offices are hiring biotech and pharma people that can say, ‘You really don’t need another mouse study,’ for example. This helps unlock value faster,” noted one participant at PharmExec’s 2012 Dealmaker’s Roundtable yesterday (the full conversation on trends in deal-making will drop in June; for last year’s roundtable conversation, click here).

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has been credited as a facilitator on deals with Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer; before she joined UCSF, she was president of product development at Genentech. “As a former head of product development myself, I think that future investment by industry in more deals with academia will depend on a very business-like assessment by companies on what their return on investment has been. They’re going to do that math, as I would expect them to,” Desmond-Hellmann told Nature Reviews Drug Discovery last year. Academics are doing the math, too. Increasingly, institutions “want to be treated like a small biotech,” said another roundtable participant. To avoid distrust, tech transfer offices and academics should “be able to get advice from someone on their side,” and this can be done through the creation of an advisory board peopled with ex-industry expertise.

Job losses at major pharmas over the last couple of years could result in a larger pool of relevant applicants, and many institutions, including Duke University, the University of California San Diego, the University of Michigan, and many others, already have former industry workers in their tech transfer offices. As for writers, they’ll need to cough up Writers Guild of America dues and hold out for DVD royalties.

Biotech IP Challenges Around the World: BIO’s Special 301 Submission

Posted under backlogs, Blog, Companies, Compulsory Licensing, Counterfeits, data protection, Diagnostics, Funding, genetic resources access and benefit, harmonization, IP, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, patent, Patently BIOtech, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy, Special 301, Startups, Technology Transfer, United States Trade Representative, Universities, USTR, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

BIO recently submitted its Special 301 Submission highlighting intellectual property (IP) challenges around the world.  In particular, BIO informed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) of the persistent problems biotech companies face with issues including counterfeiting, large backlogs and patent office inefficiency, differing judicial standards for enforcement, compulsory licensing, inadequate data protection, lack of patentability of biotech inventions, overbearing genetic resources access and benefit regimes, technology transfer issues and a great need for international harmonization of patent standards and procedures.

During the Special 301 Submission process, USTR collects comments from the public which includes a variety of stakeholders such as the Semiconductor, Video Game, Agricultural, Pharmaceutical,  Apparel, Manufacturing and other major exporting U.S. industries.  Associations that focus on IP issues across industries also weigh in including the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the International Intellectual Property Alliance USTR will release its final report based on public feedback and its own investigations by embassy officials around the world “on or around April 30, 2012.”

AUTM Website Helps Commercialize University Technologies

Posted under 2012, AUTM, BIO International Convention, Blog, commercialization, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Global Technology Portal, licensing, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Patently BIOtech, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy, Startups, Technology Transfer, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

By Robin L. Rasor, CLP, RTTP, AUTM President

As president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), I’m in a unique position of hearing from university technology managers who want more opportunity to interact with industry, and industry members who want to identify the latest breakthrough innovations. Industry investors and their academic licensing counterparts already come together for dealmaking at the AUTM Annual Meeting and at the BIO International Convention, but now we have a new resource to further augment in-person networking.

This month AUTM launched the AUTM Global Technology Portal (GTP)—a website which is a “one stop shop” for companies to search university technologies available for licensing and tell universities about their needs. The GTP will make it easier for universities and corporations to find each other and begin licensing and partnership discussions. If you’re not searching for anything specific, you can simply browse organizations, capabilities, or available technologies. You can also search by keyword and set up email alerts to learn about future related postings. If there is a particular university you’re interested in, you can even “follow” that university and get alerts when it posts new data.

You can also use the GTP to learn more about a university’s startup companies, providing a great opportunity for collaboration, investment, or an acquisition. No other database consolidates information about university startups. There is no cost to search the GTP. Should you find a technology, capability, or startup you are interested in, simply click to connect with the representative of that organization.

In addition to the information on universities, the GTP also has a “Needs” section to allow companies and government labs to tell the AUTM community about what research and technology needs they have to help find viable solutions.

In its first week the GTP already has nearly 6,500 available technologies listed. We expect even more information to be posted in the coming weeks by our 3,000+ members, representing over 150 global research institutions.

With the increased amount of networking and partnerships among our members at universities and in industry, we’re confident this new resource will result in more interactions and ultimately in further commercialization of academic technology, leading to products and processes that benefit everyone.