'MARCHING IN' ON NIH-FUNDED DRUGS

IN 1988, ABBOTT LABORATORIES REceived a National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group for AIDS grant, administered by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. The $3.5 million, five-year grant supported Abbott scientists in the discovery of the protease inhibitor ritonavir, which was further developed and marketed by Abbott as Norvir. This successful drug, which was introduced in 1996, was thrust into the spotlight when Abbott raised its price in the US. by 400% last December. In many ways, the case of Norvir is a good example of how technology developed with federal funds can be effectively transferred into the commercial sector where it can be developed into a product that benefits countless people. This outcome is, in fact, the goal of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980—the legislation that governs the transfer of federally funded research from the lab to the marketplace. The Norvir case, however, has ...