The article discusses the changes in the provisional patent application (PPA) procedure for the biotechnology industry in the U.S. to solve the obstacles to free access to research findings and intellectual property rights (IPR). The author recommends considering the provisional patented paper applications (PPPA) as an obligatory measure in filing application for patents. She outlines several benefits to those who would submit PPPA upon the compliance of an agreement. She stresses the role of PPPA in tackling secrecy threat which deals with the possibility for potential patentees to reluctantly disclose information.
Thangaraj, Harry, Van Dolleweerd, Craig J., McGowan, Edward G., and Ma, Julian K. -C.
Subjects
*ACADEMIC-industrial collaboration, *INVENTIONS, *INDUSTRIES, *PHARMACEUTICAL industry, *BIOTECHNOLOGY industries, *DRUG development
Abstract
The article explores the relationships between invention disclosure type in industry and academia and geographical disclosure trends in the biopharmaceutical industry in the U.S. Legislation has aided the academic involvement in the development and commercialization of biopharmaceutical products. The author noted that academics are becoming major players in product development, and that a trend in product-oriented translation research is developing. Information on patent applications and papers that disclose plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMP) is presented. The disclosure trends are also explored based on institution type and geographic location.
The article focuses on the initiation of various activities to address the use of genomics information by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA has released an interim policy position which offers guidance concerning the application of genomics information in assessing the risks of environmental contaminants under the different regulatory programs enforced by the agency. A genomics white paper was employed by the agency which outlines the implications of genomics.
The article offers information regarding the trends in biotechnology literature in 2005. The number of output of biotech papers of the European Union outnumbered the U.S. scientists. South Korea was replaced by Belgium in the top 15 countries in terms of biotech paper output. It was also revealed that most researches deal in the field of metabolomics and nanotechnology.
The article presents data related to biotechnology research papers in the U.S. The US remains the most productive country in terms of biotech-related papers. But numbers of papers from the European Union surpassed the US last year (with Germany and the UK ahead of most EU countries); elsewhere, Korea, China and Japan also publish frequently. Some of the top cited papers, published in different journals, by field are: RNAi--Systematic functional analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome using RNAi; Gene therapy--LMO2-associated clonal T cell proliferation in two patients after gene therapy for SCID-X2 and Nuclear transfer--Derivation of oocytes from mouse embryonic stem cells.