New online IP marketplace will foster collaboration

Vir and Alnylam have chosen their top pick for a COVID-19 therapeutic candidate, and they’re getting ready to start clinical trials. This is yet another great example of the industry’s unprecedented level of collaboration.

Today, we've got news on a new IP platform that will facilitate this kind of collaboration, as well as how biotech can help ensure the sustainability of the world’s food supply, pandemic or not, in 770 words, just under 4 minutes.

New online IP marketplace will foster collaboration

By now you know we love partnerships—so we’re pretty excited about the U.S. government’s new online IP marketplace, which will facilitate the sharing of patent information and greater collaboration across industries as we race to beat COVID-19.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) launched Patents 4 Partnerships,a new IP Marketplace Platform “that brings together those who have technologies and want to make them available for licensing and those who have an interest in and the ability to commercialize the technologies.”

It’s a centralized, searchable, and easily accessible place to list U.S. patents and patent application publications as well as a database of available technologies, says USPTO.

And it’s focusing first on COVID-19, listing technologies related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the coronavirus.

Tom’s Take: Researchers are working together like never before, sharing knowledge and resources to accelerate R&D solutions. And all of this collaboration is possible because of the strong intellectual property system we have in place today, not in spite of it. To advance the discovery of life-saving medicines, the biopharmaceutical industry is committed to robust collaboration both across the industry and with public and nonprofit partners. This new online platform will help us achieve our shared goal of eradicating COVID-19 as quickly as possible. – Tom DiLenge, President of BIO’s Advocacy, Law & Public Policy Division

More on why IP is so important right now:

More Health Care News:

Axios: Antibiotic pipeline in peril from coronavirus and incentives system
“This pandemic may be caused by a virus, but desperate measures to save patients often include overprescribing antibiotics, which is raising concerns about furthering antibiotic resistance.”

Reuters: Vir, Alnylam plan human trials by year-end for potential COVID-19 therapy
“The companies’ therapy candidate, VIR-2703, takes a new approach to potentially treating the virus by using RNA interference (RNAi) technology that targets and silences specific genetic material, blocking the production of deadly proteins that cause diseases.”

The Wall Street Journal: FDA sets standards for coronavirus antibody tests in crackdown on fraud
“Now, the FDA will require test companies to submit an application for emergency-use authorization and require them to meet standards for accuracy.”

How biotech can ensure there’s plenty of nutritious food—pandemic or not

The coronavirus is hitting food supply chains in the United States and around the world, but this is yet another area where biotech can help—if policy allows it.

We know the pandemic is having an impact on food supply chains in the United States, causing an overabundance of some crops at farms, long lines, and runs on essentials in grocery stores, and infected workers and shut downs at meat packing plants.

And experts say it will hit Europe, too, increasing the number of Europeans at risk of going hungry and leading to worse nutrition, especially for vulnerable populations and struggling nations, reports POLITICO Pro (subscription only).

Globally, the UN World Food Program says the pandemic could nearly double the number of people suffering from acute hunger. (H/T POLITICO Pro)

Biotech can help, by making crops more resilient, plentiful, nutritious, and delicious—but these innovations face overly burdensome regulatory hurdles and a mountain of misinformation, especially in the United States and Europe.

This is why, pandemic or not, we continue to educate policymakers and the public on these innovations, ensuring they understand that they are healthy, sustainable, and most of all, can play a key role during a crisis.

We’re also making sure we have the equipment to keep workers employed and supply chains moving. We’ve called on the government to prioritize essential workers for COVID-19 testing, and many biotech companies are shifting manufacturing to provide vital PPE.

More Agriculture & Environment News:

POLITICO: 5 things to watch in US-UK trade talks
Expect agriculture to be a sticking point, as Washington is “pushing to reduce restrictions on chemically rinsed chicken, genetically modified crops and hormone-treated beef.”

BIO Beltway Report