IIB Perspectives: Renewed Focus on University Tech Transfer Drives Life Sciences Innovation
By: Patty Martin, President and CEO, BioCrossroads Indiana universities and companies have played a vital role in the commercialization of insulin, the treatment of prostate cancer, and a reduction in cancer cases caused by the human papillomavirus, among many other therapeutics. Importantly, Hoosier state universities—Indiana University, Purdue University and Notre Dame—have made significant contributions to medical innovation over the past few decades. All of this, including the boost to Indiana’s economy from this wave of innovation, has been supported and enabled by a little-known law with an enormous impact, the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980. The Economist characterized the law, more commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act, an eponymous shorthand referring to the two senators, Birch Bayh and Bob Dole, who co-authored the legislation, as “possibly the most inspired piece of legislation to be enacted in America [...]
