[Random-bits] Before his flip: Soderstrom backed the AUTM letter, aggressively

[James Love]

Jon Soderstrom heads tech transfer for Yale, and is President of AUTM.

Before today's flip on IGWG:  Three days ago in an article form Inside
Higher Ed:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/22/ip

*Jon Soderstrom, president of AUTM and managing director of the Office
of Cooperative Research at Yale University, said that he and others in
the association wanted to promote better access to drugs in developing
nations, and that concerns about the WHO discussions were a matter of
tactics, not goals. 

*  Soderstrom said that the Huffington Post column was ' gross
misrepresentation'of AUTM's position. 'We are not trying to create new
barriers or hurdles.'

* The contest idea is fine to try, Soderstrom said, but not by taking
apart the intellectual property system. He said that he was skeptical
that contests could be lucrative enough to attract drug companies. He
noted that many drugs fail only after extensive and expensive testing,
so they companies need to hold rights on some of the successful drugs
they develop.

*  Many universities, he said, are willing to back reforms that deal
with drugs that would primarily be used in developing nations, for
diseases that primarily are present there. But he noted that many
diseases are not unique to any one part of the world. If universities
and governments want investments in cancer drugs, he said, "we can't
create disincentives for investment."

* AUTM is trying to point out the potential for unintended consequences,
not to quash the discussions, Soderstrom said. "We just have to be very
careful about what we are proposing."


http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/22/ip

April 22
Universities' Intellectual Property Stance Criticized

Getting medicines to people who need them in developing countries is a
top goal of public health experts worldwide, many of whom note that
people are dying all the time of diseases for which treatments exist.
Universities, whose scientists' research is crucial to many of those
drugs and which enjoy a share of royalties on some of those drugs, are
finding themselves drawn into a debate that has as much to do with the
economics of the pharmaceutical industry as anything that takes place in
a laboratory.

At issue are negotiations being encouraged by the World Health
Organization on a new treaty on international patent rights. While there
is no final document to accept or reject, among the ideas being proposed
are several that would seek to loosen patent protection on drugs used to
treat some diseases, and provisions that would embrace the idea of
international contests — with large cash prizes — taking the place of
international intellectual property rights to encourage drug companies
to work on such research.

The Association of University Technology Managers has urged its members
to lobby the WHO for caution on these ideas, warning that many of them
may be unrealistic or counterproductive. "Prize systems, a medical R&D
treaty, and compulsory patent pools are being advocated as alternatives
to patents and IP protections," said a memo sent from the association to
its members. "These solutions could pose a challenge to our current and
very successful system of innovation and tech transfer."

James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International, published on
The Huffington Post a sharp critique of the university technology
managers' stance, framing the issue starkly as: "University patent
managers versus developing countries."

Love wrote that he could understand why the pharmaceutical industry
might oppose the WHO talks, but asked "why would the university
technology managers side with big pharma in the WHO debates? Do they
really think the current system is working well in developing
countries?" Specifically, he praised the contest idea — briefly pushed
in the failed presidential campaign of John Edwards. The contest idea is
a response to those who say that without strong patent protections,
pharmaceutical companies lack the incentive to work on drugs to be used
in developing nations. In theory, contests with large payouts might be
an alternative to strong patent protections.

Jon Soderstrom, president of AUTM and managing director of the Office of
Cooperative Research at Yale University, said that he and others in the
association wanted to promote better access to drugs in developing
nations, and that concerns about the WHO discussions were a matter of
tactics, not goals. For Soderstrom, the debate is one he has seen at
Yale, which has won praise from some and criticism from others for the
way it has tried to make potential anti-HIV drugs available in
developing nations.

Soderstrom said that the Huffington Post column was "a gross
misrepresentation" of AUTM's position. "We are not trying to create new
barriers or hurdles."

The contest idea is fine to try, Soderstrom said, but not by taking
apart the intellectual property system. He said that he was skeptical
that contests could be lucrative enough to attract drug companies. He
noted that many drugs fail only after extensive and expensive testing,
so they companies need to hold rights on some of the successful drugs
they develop.

Many universities, he said, are willing to back reforms that deal with
drugs that would primarily be used in developing nations, for diseases
that primarily are present there. But he noted that many diseases are
not unique to any one part of the world. If universities and governments
want investments in cancer drugs, he said, "we can't create
disincentives for investment."

AUTM is trying to point out the potential for unintended consequences,
not to quash the discussions, Soderstrom said. "We just have to be very
careful about what we are proposing."

— Scott Jaschik


-- 
_____________________________
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040, Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584

When everyone thinks the same, no one thinks.  Bill Walton remix of Walter Lippmann