[Ip-health] Wanted: Information About Patents/Licensing of Basic Molecular Biology Reagents and Methods

[Biotech. Info. Inst.]

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Can anyone send or refer me to sources that have compiled information
about the patents covering basic molecular biology research tools and
who controls these (who licenses what for commercial use)?  I would
presume this issue has come up in discussions of topics such as
patents impairing research, patent stacking, patent pools, research
commons, biogeneric manufacturers access to manufacturing
technologies, etc.

Nearly all of the most basic and commonly used molecular biology
research tools, reagents and methods (which are obviously also used to
do the same function for commercial purposes) are covered by patents.
For example, just about everything related to recombinant protein
expression, including transfection, vectors/plasmids, host cell lines,
selection, amplification, promoters, etc. is patented, if one bothers
to look.  Generally, one does not need to do anything (take a license)
to use these for research purposes, but a license is required for
commercial use, e.g., manufacture of marketed biopharmaceuticals (look
at the fine print/footnotes that come with many laboratory products).
Further complicating the situation, many venerable (long-used)
reagents, methods, biological materials, etc. have come off patent and
are now in the public domain (no need to license).

I am developing a directory of expression systems and related, basic
genetic engineering technologies useful for large-scale of
biopharmaceuticals (recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies).
See http://www.biomanuf.com.  Any assistance in identifying basic
molecular biology patents, their owners/licensors and the need to
license these (or not, if they are now off-patent) would be most
appreciated.  I welcome summarizing and reporting substantive
responses to the list.

Thank you.

Ronald A. Rader
President
Biotechnology Information Institute
1700 Rockville Pike, Suite 400
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone:  301-424-0255
E-mail:  biotech@biopharma.com
Web sites:  www.biopharma.com; www.bioinfo.com; www.biomanuf.com;
     www.biopharmacopeia.com; www. biosimilars.com