When science rides the MTA

Shortly after a large-scale clinical trial in 1955, the first inactivated polio vaccine was being injected into tens of millions of people around the world — possibly the most successful pharmaceutical product launch in history. Asked why he had not obtained a patent on the phenomenally successful vaccine, Jonas Salk reportedly replied, “That would be like patenting the sun.” A few decades later, this view seemed laughably quaint. Over the past 20 years, the culture of science has undergone what is arguably its most radical change since World War II: instead of being seen as a strictly public good, basic research is now a patentable commodity. On the positive side, the commercialization of academic science, particularly biomedical research, has provided a significant source of new funding and sped medical advances from the laboratory to the clinic. According to the Association of University Technology Managers, licensing agreements on patents brought $1.26 billion into US academic research centers in 2000. Several universities earned more than $30 million in royalties that year, and at both the University of California and Columbia University, patent royalties exceeded $100 million. Meanwhile, the biotechnology industry, which relies heavily on patented basic science, spent $10.7 billion on research and development in 2000 — slightly over half the NIH budget for the same year. The money is nice, but […]