About the University Licensing Project

• About the University Licensing Project
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In the United States, many innovations in the biomedical field are the result of basic research at public universities. To secure a source of revenue, universities often seek and obtain patent protection on the applications of their discoveries. Because most universities are not in the business of developing, manufacturing, or marketing of pharmaceuticals, universities often license the use of the technology to for-profit biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. To obtain the maximum royalties from their patents, these licensing agreements often provide exclusive rights to the technology. As a result, licensees may obtain a de facto monopoly over the use of that technology. Monopoly power enables the companies to charge higher prices to consumers than if competitors were able to enter the market. Overall, the licensing system turns taxpayer-funded research into higher profits at the expense of consumers.

The purpose of the University Licensing project is to enable generic firms to enter the market, thus lowering prices to consumers of therapeutics. Patients not Patents seeks to:
• obtain copies of the patent licensing agreements between public universities and industry;
• conduct a legal and policy analysis of the licensing agreements;
• issue press releases and reports on the deleterious effect to the public of these arrangements; and
• organize grassroots efforts by university students and others urging the university to change their licensing arrangements for a particular technology and licensee, and/or systemically.

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