Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Concern that antitrust laws might prohibit sharing and collaboration or
that lack of an adequate antitrust policy might put the companies in legal
jeopardy
Concern about the loss of intellectual property rights to drug develop-
ment programs, for example, by sharing data on the safety of a compound,
a company inherently discloses its commitment to commercialize a
related class of compounds
Concern about liability, for example, who is responsible if the work is
done by another company and outside the control of their organization
(e.g., who will manage the work)
Who will be responsible for governance issues
Who will perform the work and how the work will be divided
Who will fund the collaborative work
Who will benefi t from the collaborative work
One successful mechanism for addressing many of the above concerns is to
establish a complete set of policies and procedures in advance of commencing
the partnership. This preemptive approach allows potential consortium part-
ners to understand both the rewards and expectations associated with their
involvement. A unifi ed understanding of the expectations, outcomes, policies
and procedures, governance structure, and so on, affords the consortium the
greatest opportunity for success.
While there are often many good reasons for a stakeholder to join a con-
sortium, the decision to join or not join ultimately rests with an analysis of
several factors and a determination of whether or not there is adequate align-
ment of their interests with the other stakeholders to justify participation.
3.3.1
Precompetitive Models
Precompetitive collaborations can be defi ned in several ways, for example, as
“pertaining to the time during research and development in which there is
collaboration but no competition” [2] or “open collaborations between com-
panies that usually are intellectual property (IP) competitors” [3] or “early
stages of research that benefi t all [stakeholders]” [4]. More particularly,
Webster ' s defi nes the term
precompetitive research and development
as “ non -
competitive, cooperative research and development which leads the way to
full scale competitive development in the future by addressing key require-
ments of new technology for the low-cost realization of [independent business
concern] IBC equipments and services” [4].
Regardless of the precise defi nition employed the general thinking is the
same —
to work collaboratively in the fi rst instance in order to expedite the gen-
eration of resources (e.g., tools, data, specimens) that each stakeholder (e.g.,
academia, industry, nonprofi ts) can use to drive the success of that organiza-
tion ' s commercial products.
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