Posts Tagged: "medical research"

The IP Challenge for Medical Research Centers

As we scan the press attention around medical intellectual property (IP) during these pandemic times, an impassioned debate centers on whether there should be a reprieve on patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines. This threat to longstanding agreements and investment in public/private sector partnerships undermines not only the ownership of IP but also sets a dangerous precedent in terms of downstream consequences. An additional challenge to patents owned by academic medical centers and pharmaceutical companies is posed by activist groups that are lobbying our government to exercise march-in rights to influence pricing of medicines in the United States. Working with medical research centers around Bayh-Dole Act compliance has uncovered, time after time, a more systemic risk that eats away at the health of the research portfolio and could add fuel to the fire for diluting IP protection, thereby undermining the foundation of innovation.

Superbugs Require New Weapons: Strong, Effective Intellectual Property Rights May Be Our Best, Last Hope

The dangers of killer germs and superbugs are not limited to bird flu in China, Ebola in West Africa, Zika in South America and MERS in the Middle East… If we are to have a fighting chance against superbugs and pandemics, we must invest in innovation and safeguard the property rights that incentivize these discoveries. Short-sighted efforts to enervate existing intellectual property rights laws and policies will not only damage incentives to innovate, they may hand a victory to the superbugs.

AXIM Biotech earns patent for chewing gum containing cannabinoids to treat neurodegenerative diseases

The patent space surrounding marijuana formulations for medical use is still wide open despite the current march towards legalization. According to patent portfolio analysis tools available through Innography, there are a total of 66 U.S. patent grants and 62 U.S. patent applications related to medical marijuana. As the pie chart here will show readers, the top three asset holders in this space are La Jolla, CA-based Auspex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ASPX), Leidos Holdings (NYSE:LDOS) and the University of Connecticut… In the middle of November, New York City-based biotech firm AXIM Biotechnologies (OTCMKTS:AXIM) announced that it had secured a new patent grant claiming the use of all cannabinoids in controlled-release chewing gum products containing cannabinoids.

A look at treatments for hepatitis C, America’s top infectious disease killer

The FDA has been pretty active this year in approving new tests and treatments designed to help identify and eliminate the hepatitis C virus in patients. Swiss healthcare developer Roche (VTX:ROG) received FDA approval this March for a new quantitative RNA test which can help physicians see exactly what level of HCV exists in a patient’s blood instead of simply confirming an active infection. Earlier this year, in late January, the FDA granted approval to Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) for a once-daily single tablet treatment branded as Zepatier. Zepatier is another combination drug therapy which incorporates elbasvir and grazoprevir, both HCV RNA inhibitors, and is designed to treat patients having one of two strains of HCV, including the most common strain. A 12-week regimen of the treatment costs $54,600.

Blue Ribbon Panel of Advisors Announced for Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative

Earlier this week the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts, cancer leaders, and patient advocates that will work to inform the scientific direction and goals for Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. “Thanks to advances in science, we are now in a historically unique position to make profound improvements in the way we treat, detect, and prevent cancer,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. He is correct, and here is why.