The Bayh-Dole Act unlocked those discoveries that were made with taxpayer money. It allowed businesses and nonprofits, such as universities, to retain title to their inventions that were made with federal funds and to license them to private companies for commercialization. It was a brilliant piece of bipartisan legislation that set the stage for commercializing hundreds of products, including life-saving treatments to which many of us cancer survivors owe our lives.
It is with an indescribably profound sadness that I write this article. In the early morning hours of May 17, 2012, my mother — Mary Catherine Quinn — passed, succumbing to her fight against cancer. My mother was my closest friend and I will miss her more than any words could possibly describe.
Contrary to the FDA, the European Medicines Agency confirmed that the benefits of Avastin® in combination with paclitaxel outweigh the risks, further determining that the combination of Avastin® and paclitaxel remains a valuable treatment option for patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer. If the FDA is successful in removing the breast cancer indication from Avastin® Genentech (a member of the Roche Group and the maker of Avastin®) could lose $1 billion of its $6 billion in annual sales of Avastin® due to the lost sales associated with use to treat breast cancer.