Read-out on NIH deal inquiry

A hearing on co-development licensing agreements between NIH-funded non-profit research institutions and private companies is scheduled for June 17 before the House subcommittee on regulation, business opportunities and technology, committee staff member Steve Jenning told BioCentury.

The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who asked NIH to collect information on the agreements of its top 103 grantees after he complained about a deal between Scripps Research Institute and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. The agreement gives Sandoz first rights to all of Scripps' scientific discoveries from 1997 to 2006 in exchange for $300 million, an arrangement Wyden has criticized as being overly generous with the fruits of government-supported research...