STAT+: NIH has paused patenting of discoveries, slowing their use in developing treatments
Freeze on communications and contracts blocks NIH from sharing research materials with collaborators and patenting discoveries.
Clampdowns on external communications and new contracts at the National Institutes of Health by President Donald Trump’s administration — which have effectively slowed the flow of grant funding to a trickle — are also blocking the agency from sharing research materials with collaborators and taking crucial steps to ensure the discoveries its own scientists are making can later be used in the development of drugs and vaccines.
For the past five weeks, employees at NIH technology transfer offices have been barred from filing new patent applications and been restricted from licensing existing ones, according to emails obtained by STAT and interviews with current and former NIH employees.
On January 29, NIH acting director Matthew Memoli sent an email to senior agency officials instructing them to pause all technology transfer discussions with outside parties and not negotiate any new agreements. The NIH often contracts with law firms to handle patent-related work for inventions that arise from research funded by NIH or conducted in-house. The memo advised that agreements in place prior to January 20 could move forward, but that “new patents should not be pursued during the pause,” Memoli wrote, adding that he believed the pause would be “short.”
