Download a printable PDF of this article (membership required).

 Purchase a PDF of this article from the ABA Webstore.

This column is devoted to developments in legislative, judicial, and public policy matters concerning the science and technology areas of biotechnology, pharmacy, life sciences, and related arts.

NIH OTT PDQ

Translation:  The National Institutes of Health’s Office of Technology Transfer gets into the fast lane “pretty dang quick” with a new online resource that allows companies to license NIH materials.  They are calling it the electronic Research Materials catalogue (eRMa), and the NIH says it can shorten a typical transaction from taking months to only a couple of days.  This improvement may become very significant in light of the fact that the NIH OTT handles almost $100 million in royalty payments each year. You can learn more about this new system in the GenomeWeb article “NIH Launches Online Tech Transfer System” or at www.OTT.NIH.gov.