Database Coverage and Content

  • Coverage - The database has over 4,300 records (10/97), covering all federal agency/laboratory patent properties, licenses and CRADAs in the biomedical and basic biotechnology areas for which information is available in the public domain. Coverage extends to the present (with recent patent application, licensing and CRADA information dependent upon agency/lab disclosures; U.S. patents generally within the past month). See the Status page for current database contents.

  • Selection Criteria - Entries are included in the Federal Bio-Technology Transfer Directory only if they have claimed or presumed biomedical, healthcare, related biotechnology or basic life sciences relevance; or are relevant to the interests of the U.S. biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Plants, environmental, energy, mining, industrial chemicals and other technologies and uses of biotechnology lacking biomedical or basic life sciences relevance are generally excluded. The majority of entries involve biomedical and human healthcare applications or enabling or supporting technologies, with over 90% relevant to therapeutic or diagnostic applications. All PHS/NIH inventions, licenses and CRADAs are included.

  • Information Sources - Entries include unique information collected continually since 1991 from essentially all available public domain sources including federal technology transfer offices, databases, publications, directories, meetings and other sources. This is integrated with information obtained from constant monitoring of the world's biotechnology, pharmaceutical, technology transfer, federal agency/laboratory and company newsletters, press releases, and abstracting/indexing services. Information sources used are further described on the pages concerning the Directory's information sources and development. Much of the information in the Directory is truly unique, particularly concerning licensing, CRADAs and commercialization activities, and can be found nowhere else. We are often the only ones ever to ask for this information.

  • Abstracts - Inventions and collaborations are described in-depth, including as much information as is available in the public domain. Licensing and commercialization status is included as part of the invention abstracts. Abstracts present a full technical description of technologies and their utility using consistent terminology (the same used for indexing) to facilitate retrieval. Information is included about invention and CRADA commercial significance and development activities. The full-text of official CRADA descriptions is also included where these are available. For further information, see abstracting conventions.

  • Bonus Patent Abstracts - Besides an original abstract for each entry, the full text of the official U.S. patent abstract and exemplary claim are included for about 1,400 patents. Other public domain information, such as Federal Register notices and foreign patent disclosure abstracts, are sometimes also included.

  • Subject Indexing - Entries are indexed in depth with about 45,000 subject index entries. Subject indexing uses a rigorous faceted approach (e.g., for materials/agents, applications/uses, processes, etc.) combining use of uncontrolled keywords and controlled index terms. For further information about indexing see the Subject Index Users Guide and Microthesaurus. Indexing is simple and intuitive to use, yet technically detailed and sophisticated, enabling precise retrieval. To facilitate retrieval, the Subject Index often includes terms not used in the Abstract such as additional synonyms, related and broader terms ; and all major concepts are also indexed using controlled vocabulary. Controlled use of terms such as "treatments" (covering all drugs, biopharmaceuticals and other therapeutic regimens), clinical "trials" and "expression" (to indicate recombinant products), enables precise retrieval. Biological, chemical and other nomenclature systems are used for indexing along with common terminology.

  • Search Fields - The "All Fields" Web database field will probably be the field you most commonly use (along with the Subject field). Other searchable fields include: Status (e.g., patent, application or CRADA; licensing status); Organization (licensees, CRADA collaborators); Agency/Laboratory; Date; Inventors (including CRADA investigators); Official Number (patent/CRADA number) and database Accession Number. These are further explained in the Web database Users Guide.

  • Search Implementation - The Web database has been implemented to allow searching of multiple fields and full Boolean queries, unlike most Web databases that often only allow searching using a single or limited number of fields and/or do not allow constructino of complex queries. For further information, see the Users Guide.