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Foundation loosens policy
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by Nick Penzenstadler
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Stem-cell companies can now sponsor research using Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation-patented technology at an academic or nonprofit institution without obtaining a license from the foundation after three major policy changes Tuesday.
Those companies, however, will still need to obtain a license from WARF to transfer research to company-owned labs or to develop new products for profit using foundation-patented technology.
"We think [the policy changes] will increase the amount of funding available for academic labs and make it possible for more labs to be sponsored," WARF spokesperson Andy Cohn said.
WARF will also allow cost-free cell transfers among researchers, and Cohn said the foundation has already released cells to more than 360 researchers.
The policy change is monumental for the future of embryonic stem-cell research, said Jeanne Loring, co-director of the stem-cell center at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif.
"It's a huge release," Loring said. "[Before the changes], we had to let WARF know every time we wanted to work together."
According to The Associated Press, companies all around the nation have previously obtained licenses from WARF for up to $400,000.
WARF holds the patents on James Thomson's method of isolating and defining human embryonic stem cells and, according to WARF, has made them available to academic researchers.
According to Loring, researchers were concerned because people were doing more business in foreign countries, where the licensing environment is friendlier.
She added private corporations have given WARF kickbacks after obtaining the stem-cell information.
"Companies secretly have negotiated royalty agreements independently with WARF for a percentage of that money simply for holding the intellectual property," Loring said. "It has really long-term implications. I'm very pleased they have modified the agreements."
Loring added that the "intellectual property" exchange has opened the future up for positive discoveries.
"They hold the patent, so they have the power to control it any way they wish," she said. "It was having a negative effect on researchers — I'm really pleased, and it's a great step forward."
In addition to the policy changes, WARF also announced it will clarify its position with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
WARF said that because CIRM is a nonprofit organization, it would not need to remit any money they received through research.
CIRM Chief Communications Officer Dale Carlson said the press release was odd because it did not contain any new information.
"We never believed that we would be required to obtain a license from WARF, because we're not research," he said.
Even with the announcements yesterday, Loring said she and her nonprofit associates would not drop their case for the re-examination of Thomson's patents.
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