Partnerships in technology transfer. An innovative program to enhance biomedical research and global health.

The mission of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services, includes support for biomedical research to extend healthy life by reducing the burdens of illness worldwide. To this end, the NIH’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) seeks to address gaps related to the availability of NIH inventions and to enhance the accessibility of its research to people around the world. With its leadership in biomedical research and innovation, as well as the management of technology commercialization across sectors, the OTT is in a key position to provide leadership in this area and to help other countries formulate appropriate technology-transfer procedures that are compatible with such activities in the developed world [http://www.iipi.org/activities/projects_tech_transfer.htm]. To illustrate the global reach of NIH international activities, Table 1 lists some of the countries with which it has executed grants and contracts. The OTT has already been successfully moving Public Health Services technologies to institutions in developing countries, such as China and Brazil, based on public-health needs and research and development (R&D) commercialization capabilities, but has found only a few institutions in even fewer countries to be familiar with the patenting or licensing process and/or able to enter into negotiations. International property rights are considered a critical currency in technology transfer and innovation (Intellectual Property Rights: Implications for Development International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2003). With its leadership in biomedical research, the NIH is in a position to play a significant role in international technology transfer. In presenting the NIH Roadmap Initiative, current NIH Director Dr. Zerhouni has stressed the need to position NIH in addressing the evolving public-health challenges of the 21st century. The Roadmap would target the enhancement of “public-private partnerships [which] have become a model for advancing science and communicating results of medical advances to improve the quality of life for all people.” Luis A. Salicrup* Mark L. Rohrbaugh