Tag: Innovation

AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES - October 23, 2022: Shaquille O'Neal at round 19 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 championship taking place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas United States.

Shaq, Entrepreneurship, and Social Determinants of Health

Bobby Stroup Leave a comment

By Bobby Stroup 

If advocates working to address health disparities want to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, perhaps they should adopt the mindset of people who do that on a daily basis: entrepreneurs.

Applying the entrepreneurial spirit to advocacy around the social determinants of health (SDOH) sounds like a potentially beneficial way to further the cause. But can we manufacture that attitude through public policy? Law is a tool we use to protect fundamental rights and empower social progress. But does that mean we should use it to make people care about SDOH innovation?

In this article, I will consider potential law and policy-based approaches to promoting entrepreneurial innovation in the realm of health equity. Read More

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office building

Visualizing the Growing Intersection of Life Sciences and Computing Patents in the US from 1976-2021

Matthew Chun Leave a comment

By Matthew Chun

With its leadership in drug development, biotechnology, and computing technologies, the United States touts itself as being “the most innovative economy in the world.”

But when did the U.S. rise to its position as a global leader in these areas? Which regions of the country have led the charge? And what is the next frontier of American innovation?

To begin exploring these questions, I analyzed 45 years of publicly available patent data to map the growth of U.S. innovation in the life sciences and computing fields from 1976-2021. I also mapped the recent growth of patented “hybrid” inventions, which are closing the gap between these historically disparate fields. In particular, the hybrid inventions explored in this project represent interdisciplinary advances in areas including bioinformatics, cheminformatics, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

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Contracting to counter gene patents – a 21st Century solution to access and innovation

Genetics in Medicine Leave a comment

By Sarah Ali-Khan and E. Richard Gold

As Precision Medicine becomes a reality, molecular tests are an increasingly critical part of patient care. While patients and their physicians would like to maximize access, they have confronted a roadblock in the form of patents covering genes and methods of diagnosis. Many hoped that the landmark 2013 Supreme Court of the United States decision in Myriad v AMP spelled the end of these patents, but the number of gene patents has actually increased since that decision. This is because, while limiting the availability of patents over genomic DNA, the court decision was narrow, leaving substantial grey zones such as over cDNA or where the patent covers a sequence of DNA used in a particular way. Patent agents have been assiduous in exploiting these grey zones to file for and obtain patents over molecular tests. This development points to continued adverse consequences of gene patents not only in the US, but around the world. Our recently published GIM article ‘Gene patents still alive and kicking: their impact on provision of genetic testing for Long QT syndrome in the Canadian public health-care system’, not only examines the impact of gene patents in one country, Canada, but shows how 21st Century contracting can provide a nuanced and pragmatic means to enabling both access and innovation around patented genetic tests.

In Nov 2014, in the first Canadian instance of a public interest ‘test case’ in intellectual property and public health, The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) challenged five patents held by Transgenomic Inc. over a genetic test for Long QT Syndrome (LQTS), a potentially fatal cardiac disorder most commonly striking in children and youth. Widely reported, settled in March 2016, and named as one of the year’s cases having the most impact on intellectual property, the case produced the CHEO Public Health Access Agreement. The Agreement does not itself alter law– gene patents remain valid in Canada. Rather, it constitutes a contractual agreement between parties to the litigation, allowing for efficient, no-cost test implementation. The Agreement explicitly states that Transgenomic will freely grant a license to test the LQTS-associated genes to any entity providing services within Canada’s public healthcare system. That is, except for a marginal private market, all LQTS in Canada can now be provided free. Read More

Two new publications on “European patent strategies under the UPCA” and on “Synthetic Biology & Intellectual Property Rights”

Timo Minssen Leave a comment

By Timo Minssen

I am pleased to announce two new publications on (1) “European patent strategies under the UPCA” and (2)  “Synthetic Biology & Intellectual Property Rights”:

1) Minssen, T & Lundqvist, B 2014, ‘The ”opt out” and “opt-in” provisions in the Unified Patent Court Agreement – Impact and strategies for European patent portfolios‘ , published  in N I R (Nordic IP Review), vol 2014, nr. 4, s. 340-357.

Abstract: Many questions concerning the UPC’s jurisdiction during the transitional period for European Patents under Article 83 UPCA remain unsolved. Focusing on the “opt in” and “opt out” choices under Article 83 (3) & (4), this paper discusses the legal nature and prerequisites of these provisions, as well as the options and strategic choices that patent proprietors and applicants are facing. Considering the pros and cons of the emerging unitary system in light of a persisting uncertainty of how to interpret relevant stipulations, it is emphasized that there will be no clear-cut solutions. Rather the suitability of each approach will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all circumstances surrounding an invention, its patent-claims and the underlying business strategy. Recognizing that the worst thing to do is to do nothing at all, we conclude with a summary and some general remarks.

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Tomorrow: Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare Start-Ups

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

vaccines_slideLegal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare Start-Ups

Monday, October 6, 2014 4:00 PM

Harvard Law School
LOCATION CHANGE: Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West AB
1585 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138

The full list of panelists is available on our website here.

New healthcare start-ups face a range of legal and ethical challenges as they develop new products and services and solicit financial support from investors. Building on the success of the President’s Challenge at the Harvard Innovation Lab, which invites teams of Harvard students to develop innovative solutions to a range of global issues including healthcare accessibility and affordability, the Petrie-Flom Center will host a discussion of the issues that past winners of the President’s Challenge have faced as they seek to move their ideas out of the lab and into the private sector.

The panel discussion will be followed by the Petrie-Flom Center’s Annual Open House reception. Join us to learn more about our work!

This event is supported by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund.

10/6/14: Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare Start-Ups

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

vaccines_slideLegal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare Start-Ups

Monday, October 6, 2014 4:00 PM

Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East B, Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Ave.

The full list of panelists is available on our website here.

New healthcare start-ups face a range of legal and ethical challenges as they develop new products and services and solicit financial support from investors. Building on the success of the President’s Challenge at the Harvard Innovation Lab, which invites teams of Harvard students to develop innovative solutions to a range of global issues including healthcare accessibility and affordability, the Petrie-Flom Center will host a discussion of the issues that past winners of the President’s Challenge have faced as they seek to move their ideas out of the lab and into the private sector.

The panel discussion will be followed by the Petrie-Flom Center’s Annual Open House reception. Join us to learn more about our work!

This event is supported by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund.