Robert Kneller, J.D., M.D., M.P.H.
Visiting Professor, Stanford Medical School
January 18, 2011 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room
Host: John Huggins
Identifying the inventors of all the drugs approved by the FDA between 1998 and 2007 shows that discovery of innovative drugs relies disproportionately on new companies. Moreover, the initial development of scientifically novel university drugs depends almost exclusively on new companies (biotechs). Biotechs discover a substantial proportion of new drugs in the US, Canada and Australia, but very few in Japan and Europe. These findings raise questions about reasons for new companies' innovative edge and the sharp geographic differences, as well as whether they also apply to other industries. Robert Kneller's thirteen years among science and engineering professors and students in Japan's premier university suggest that some of these answers relate to long-term institutional factors. However, others relate to the system of university-industry cooperation, which, at least in Japan's case, results in generous transfers to large companies of university intellectual property (IP) while constraining the growth prospects for new companies. These conclusions are relevant to current debates about the US "Bayh-Dole" system of university IP management.
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