Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
or model organisms, and the contract serves to delineate the rights and obliga-
tions of both parties to the transfer. MTAs can also be used for nonrecombi-
nant materials like spinal fl uid, tumor, blood, and other tissue samples as well
as for chemicals and other technologies that may assist in drug discovery [14].
Negotiating an MTA can be a lengthy process. In the university-to-university
setting, estimates range from delays of over a month for between 11 and 16%
of requests, “a substantial delay in a fast-moving fi eld,” to estimates that there
are routine delays of over six months for 20% of requests and over two months
for 42% of requests. Studies also show increasing rates of outright denial of
requests and abandonment of “promising research projects” because materials
are not received. In the commercial-university arena, with no standardized
agreements at all, most observers believe the situation is worse. Commercial-
academic denial rates are estimated to be nearly twice those in the academic-
academic context (33 vs. 18%) [15].
Scholarly and empirical research shows a range of estimates. The lowest
estimate is that one in six suffer a delay of more than one month—“a substan-
tial delay in a fast-moving research fi eld” [16]. The higher estimates (from a
large survey conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science [AAAS]) are that 25% of those researchers seeking materials through
MTAs suffer delays of one to two months, 23% two to six months, and 19%
over six months. Most of the literature falls between those extremes, but closer
to the second estimate. Articles published by technology transfer offi cers and
interviews with scientists offer support for negotiation delays being signifi cant
and widespread [15] .
Separating the purely legal negotiating delays from other delays in the
MTA process is diffi cult, however. The lowest estimate on this factor was 11%
suffering delays of more than a month—this amount of time was assessed as
“ a substantial delay. ” Technology Transfer Offi ce (TTO) estimates and other
surveys here suggest that legal/licensing delays of two to six months are routine.
The AAAS fi gures also support this conclusion. Finally, some requests are not
simply delayed. They are denied. Forty-seven percent of all academic geneti-
cists who had asked “other faculty for additional information, data, or materi-
als regarding published research reported that at least one of their requests
had been denied in the preceding 3 years” [17]. Systems attempting to address
these delays have been put into place by universities, funders, and nonprofi t
organizations and will be addressed in the fi nal section of this chapter [15].
MTAs take three forms—academic to academic, academic to industry, and
industry to academic. The differences in delays noted in the literature above
come from the kind of elements found in the relevant MTAs to each transfer,
with industry to academic often being the most diffi cult to negotiate.
Academic-to-academic transfers are in many cases quite simple, with some
major research institutions (such as Stanford) and some biobanks (such as the
Jackson Laboratories mouse facility) doing away with “outbound” MTAs alto-
gether in lieu of norms or website terms of use. And for those not quite ready
to do away with MTAs for academic-to-academic transfer, the Uniform
Search WWH ::




Custom Search