If you are interested in licensing and collaborative research and development opportunities, you can't afford to ignore federal laboratories.

The federal labs and, particularly, NIH are the single most important players in biomedical/biotechnology research and development.

The federal government and NIH each have the largest and by far the most important portfolios of inventions available for licensing in the biomedical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare-related areas.

The federal and NIH patent portfolios rank number one in terms of U.S.-based research and development. Their patent portfolios rank among the very largest, along with the world's largest multinational pharmaceutical companies.

All federal inventions are available for licensing, unlike most industry inventions.

Federal inventions tend to be broader and more fundamental than industry inventions with fewer defensive and redundant patents.

NIH has abandoned its "reasonable pricing" clause, and NIH and other federal technologies are available on essentially the same terms as those of industry and academia. In fact, industry and, particularly, the larger pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have avoided federal technology transfer in recent years because of "reasonable pricing" concerns

An large number of unexploited opportunities are available.

Besides being the best source for new technologies, federal agencies and labs can be ideal partners for product/technology research, development and commercialization. The database documents hundreds of cases of successful technology transfers.

Federal laboratories and NIH are the single most important sources for new technologies for the U.S. biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

Federal labs and NIH are number one in terms of licensing and collaborations in these areas. Take a look at lists of licensees; CRADA partners; and a sampling of licensed technologies. Over 30% of inventions have been licensed, most nonexclusively.

Federal labs and NIH have the types of inventions that industry needs the most -- fundamental technologies (e.g., gene therapy and sequencing), breakthrough biopharmaceuticals and drugs for diseases for which no therapeutics are currently available, and broadly enabling technologies (e.g., screening assays, cloned genes, receptors).

Federal labs and NIH are by far the world's leaders in a number of areas, such as cancer, infectious diseases, gene therapy and sequencing, vaccines, fundamental aspects of molecular and cellular biology, radiopharmaceuticals and therapeutics screening.

Federal and NIH inventions tend to be in more advanced stages of development and federal labs are often better prepared and more willing to assist with commercialization, compared to academia and industry competitors. Federal labs have mandates to improve the public health, nation's economy, etc., and unmatched resources for research, development and testing (e.g., look at all the therapeutics in clinical trials).

Federal labs spend over $2 billion annually for biomedical, biotechnology and related research and development. The NIH alone has an intramural (internal) research budget of about $1.2 billion. While major pharmaceutical companies are consolidating and cutting back and funding remains a problem for biotechnology companies, the federal labs and, particularly, NIH are assured rather steady funding into the next century.

This is the only source for federal bio-technology transfer information suited for users in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

Federal information resources for inventions available for licensing, whether databases or technology transfer offices, are of little utility to those in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Available federal databases and catalogs are severely deficient in coverage, quality and timeliness. None are designed or have value-added features required by these industries. None have the in-depth abstracts, indexing, consistent terminology, cross-references and other features provided by this database.

Compare this database with those offered by federal agencies/labs (e.g., those listed on the Links to Other Sites page. including the federal inventions database offered by the National Technology Transfer Center).

Several commercial vendors also offer federal technology transfer databases, but these are just the same federal databases available free elsewhere and have no specialized added-value features for biomedical/biotechnology users. Also, these databases can cost more than this database.

Most of this information can be found nowhere else. This is the only information resource covering federal bio-technology transfer and commercialization activities.

This is the only comprehensive source for federal inventions, licencing and Collaborative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) relevant to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

Most of this information is never reported in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical newsletter literature, abstracting/indexing services or other information resources. None of the expensive pharmaceutical development information resources, such as PharmaProjects or R&D Alert, even begin to effectively cover federal technology transfer and commercialization activities.

The database provides access to a large and unique body of scientific, technological and competitive intelligence affecting your organization. It should be used regularly -- as a first-line reference for all of your technology opportunity searches and as a second-line reference for competitive intelligence and assessments.

There are alternatives to using this database. You can waste considerable time and money searching federal databases (that are very inadequate), contacting technology transfer offices (good luck!), searching patent and other specialized databases that provide no information about federal technology transfers and commercialization activities and/or you can waste money on consultants who will use these inadequate, non-targeted resources.