[Ip-health] health groups support on-line access to medical research

[Benjamin Krohmal]

Media Advisory  *  For immediate release  *  February 21, 2007
Contacts:

Benjamin Krohmal, Medical Innovation Projects Coordinator, Knowledge
Ecology International
Phone: 202 332 2670 ex. 14
E-mail: ben.krohmal at keionline.org

Ruth Trombka, Director of Development and Management, Knowledge
Ecology International
Phone: 202 332 2670 ex. 11
E-mail: ruth.trombka at keionline.org

Heather Joseph, Executive Director, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing
and Academic Resources Coalition) and founding member of the Alliance
for Taxpayer Access
Phone: 202 296 2296 ex. 157
E-mail: heather at arl.org

Robert Weissman, Director, Essential Action
Phone: 202 387 8030
E-mail: rob at essential.org

HEALTH GROUPS URGE SENATORS TO SUPPORT ON-LINE ACCESS TO TAXPAYER
FUNDED MEDICAL RESEARCH
Washington, DC (Feb. 21, 2007) =96 Thirty-nine patient, health, and
consumer organizations last week sent letters to Senators Lieberman,
Cornyn, and Collins in support of the Federal Research Public Access
Act.  The Public Access Act would require that most taxpayer funded
scientific papers be made available for free online within six months
of initial publication. The groups stress the particular importance
of greater access to published medical research, which would help
scientists speed the development of new treatments and cures.

=93Every barrier to obtaining this research could mean lost
opportunities for medical breakthroughs that happen when the right
data find their way into the hands of the right scientist,=94 explains
Benjamin Krohmal of Knowledge Ecology International.  The groups also
stressed that readily available medical findings would lead to better
informed doctors and give patients and their families more tools to
empower themselves in the treatment process.  The letters states that
=93The Internet now provides an unprecedented opportunity to amplify
the rewards of medical research by making it more widely and easily
available than ever before,=94 but =93too few papers are now readily
available to the public online, including the majority of papers
supported with taxpayer funding.=94

Heather Joseph of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition) and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access notes that
"Expanding access to the results of publicly funded research is
critically important to every American and to people around the
world. We all benefit when scientific understanding advances more
rapidly. When research is funded by taxpayers, the obligation to
share findings as broadly as feasible can no longer be ignored.=94
Robert Weissman of Essential Action adds that =93Public support for R&D
is one of the great, unheralded reasons for U.S. economic strength, a
central reason why so much medical innovation occurs in the United
States, and a major contribution to global public health. Putting the
fruits of that support in the public domain leverages each of those
benefits.=94

Senators Cornyn and Lieberman were the co-sponsors of the Federal
Research Public Access Act when it was introduced in 2006.  Lieberman
and Collins are ranking members of the Senate Committee on Homeland
Security and Government Affairs, which must approve the bill once it
is resubmitted in the 110th Congress before the Public Access Act can
come up for a vote before the full Senate.  Copies of the letters and
signers are available here:

http://www.cptech.org/a2k/collins-lieberman-public-access-letter.pdf

http://www.cptech.org/a2k/cornyn-lieberman-public-access-letter.pdf

For more information about the bill, see:

http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa/index.html

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Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) works to make national and
international policies more conducive to the spread of knowledge,
with a particular focus on expanding access to educational materials
and medical technologies.  Founded in 2007, KEI has offices in
Washington DC, London, and Geneva, and is the new parent entity of
CPTech (the Consumer Project on Technology, http://www.cptech.org).

Benjamin Krohmal
Coordinator - Project on Medical Innovation
Knowledge Ecology International
Tel: +1-202-332-2670 ex. 14
Fax: +1-202-332-2673
ben.krohmal@keionline.org