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MPEG LA has broadened its focus to the field of life sciences with its announcement early last year of an initiative to make genetic and other biomarker-related patents available for diagnostic testing. Discoveries related to molecular diagnostic testing have paved the way for the development of personalized medical therapy. Yet patent “thickets,” restrictive licensing practices and the current unavailability of viable licensing alternatives may threaten swift and widespread adoption of these important technologies, the lives they save and cost-savings they can achieve. Applying its mass market patent licensing expertise in service to the healthcare market, MPEG LA has designed the new Librassay™ molecular diagnostics patent licensing “supermarket” balancing access with incentive to serve the needs of patent owners, molecular diagnostic test and research tool developers, labs, biopharma companies, clinicians, healthcare providers and patients.
The Librassay™ patent licensing supermarket is a web-based store offering nonexclusive, nondiscriminatory access to a wide range of molecular diagnostic (field of use limited) patent rights in support of existing and emerging tests for the diagnosis of disease and other medical conditions, patient monitoring and personalized treatment - e.g., in relation to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, and various hereditary conditions such as hearing loss. The store will enable “one-stop” shopping for patent needs and streamlined licensing on a nonexclusive basis for diagnostic use at reasonable rates to promote widespread use among licensees and attractive returns to patent owners.
MPEG LA will assume all costs related to patent evaluation, legal, marketing and administrative tasks related to bringing patents into the supermarket, licensing them to end users, and collecting and distributing royalties shared among relevant patent owners. Different options tailored to the needs of individual patent owners are available.
MPEG LA is in the process of signing “anchor” patent owners. In addition, MPEG LA welcomes the opportunity to work with other interested industry participants who may benefit from access to these patent rights.
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MPEG LA's Librassay® Featured in Genetic Diagnostic Testing Testimony at USPTO
(DENVER, CO, US – 16 February 2012) – MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in alternative one-stop patent licenses, testified today at a public hearing on Genetic Diagnostic Testing at the US Patent and Trademark Office to introduce Librassay®, a market-based solution addressing genetic diagnostic patent licensing issues of concern to the panel. Through a patent licensing “supermarket” making essential patent rights available on a nonexclusive, nondiscriminatory basis, Librassay® will accelerate adoption and availability of genetic diagnostic tests leading to personalized medical solutions in service to the entire market.
“Exclusive licensing practices, market behavior and related legal cases cry out for the need to provide nonexclusive access to essential patents in the diagnostics field of use, and MPEG LA, through Librassay®, intends to answer that call,” Kristin Neuman, Executive Director, Librassay®, at MPEG LA, testified before the hearing.
Building on MPEG LA’s successful patent pool model, Neuman explained that Librassay® can help patent owners and users come together in an efficient fashion to hasten transactions that incentivize technology innovation and adoption by balancing reasonable access to intellectual property rights with a reasonable return on investment.
“The nonexclusive licensing platform provided by Librassay® will promote the availability of independent, second opinion genetic diagnostic testing by providing a wide variety of patent rights to any and all users in a single, easy, and cost-effective transaction,” said Neuman. “As more and more patents become available through Librassay®, the medical community will experience greater levels of genetic test availability because no entity will be able to license patents from Librassay® on an exclusive basis – the Librassay® patent rights will be available to all. Further, we expect the widespread, nonexclusive licensing opportunities available through Librassay® to drive down the cost of genetic diagnostic testing, as fewer patent owners continue to hold exclusive patent positions. And all of this can be attained while still providing a reasonable financial return to patent owners for their innovation in this very important field.”
Librassay® licensees will be able to shop the Librassay® website store for the patent rights they need to clear, develop and offer genetic diagnostic tests they produce. The Librassay® many-to-many licensing model will be particularly useful and valuable in connection with multiplex genetic testing, where patent rights belonging to many different owners may be needed to support a single multiplexed genetic test. More information on Librassay®, which launches later this year, can be found at: http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/mds/default.aspx
A transcript of Neuman’s testimony can be found at: http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/mds/Documents/HearingTestimony02-16-12.pdf
MPEG LA Launches Initiative to Make Gene Patents Available for Diagnostic Testing
Licensing Facility Balances Open Access with Innovation to Deliver Diagnosis and Treatment
(DENVER, CO, US – 8 April 2010) – MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in alternative one-stop patent licenses, today announced a market-based initiative for a diagnostic genetics patent licensing facility that addresses the market’s need for nonexclusive access to patents for diagnostic genetics tests leading to personalized medical solutions that save lives and reduce healthcare costs.
“Diagnostic genetics testing holds great promise as a driver of precision therapy, but patent thickets and restrictive licensing arrangements threaten their delivery,” said MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn. “The recent case of Association for Molecular Pathology vs. USPTO, Myriad Genetics and University of Utah Research Foundation (US District Court for the Southern District of New York) suggests the need for a solution that balances social cost and open access with innovation incentive. Applying its leading mass market patent licensing expertise in service to the healthcare market, MPEG LA is prepared to deliver it. We welcome all owners of relevant patents to join those who have expressed their support for this effort.”
By aggregating patent rights for existing and emerging tests that may lead to personalized treatment (e.g., hereditary hearing loss in infants, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cardiovascular disease, Lynch syndrome) and licensing them nonexclusively for diagnostic use, MPEG LA’s diagnostic genetics patent licensing facility, or “supermarket,” will assist laboratories, testing companies and researchers in obtaining rights they need to design comprehensive diagnostic genetics tests that the market wants, thereby making these tests widely available through multiple channels at affordable prices.
In the current marketplace, many patent owners restrict access to their intellectual property in order to protect and promote their own tests, and others do not make their patents available at all because the costs of licensing them in isolation from related patents are prohibitive. By providing the public with wide access to tests that rely on the availability of these patent rights, MPEG LA’s licensing supermarket will afford patent owners – including those who currently restrict access or refrain from licensing – a new and financially attractive, low risk opportunity to make diagnostic patent rights available to a wider market through broader, more inclusive tests. As such, the MPEG LA supermarket intersects cost effectiveness with effective treatment, alleviating the social costs of current gene patenting and licensing practices while preserving the investment incentives that enable developers to bring new genetic tests to market.
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Pools in Formation
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