Intellectual Property Pool: Podcast with BVGH, Alnylam and GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline [2] and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals [3] recently announced that BIO Ventures for Global Health [4] will administer the Intellectual Property (IP) Pool to aid in the discovery and development of new treatments for neglected tropical diseases. 

Lila Feisee, Managing Director for Intellectual Property at BIO, hosted a discussion on the IP pool with:

• Nick Cammack, Ph.D., Vice President and head of GlaxoSmithKline’s Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, a specialist research centre in Spain dedicated to researching new treatments in global health priorities such as malaria and TB;
• John Maraganore [5], Ph.D., CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on RNA interference, or RNAi;
• Melinda Moree [6], Ph.D., CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health, a non-profit organization whose mission is to save lives by accelerating the development of novel biotechnology-based drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to address the unmet medical needs of the developing world.

The participants explained how the IP pool will provide patents as well as access to technologies and the individuals who did the work which resulted in the patents. This will help researchers decide on the best course of action in order to pursue new medicines to treat neglected tropical diseases.  This sharing of collective knowledge will advance research and possibly speed the development of treatments for patients in developing nations.

You can learn more about the IP pool established by GlaxoSmithKline and Alnylam at http://www.gsk.com/collaborations/patentpool.htm [7].

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