Monitoring of Biomedical License Agreements: A Practical Guide

Because technology licensed from research organizations can play a significant role in drug innovation and the generation of novel biomedical products, licensee performance under such agreements must be effectively monitored. This is necessary so that resultant benefits, including public health improvement, may be returned to the innovator(s) as well as society at large. The tasks that comprise monitoring are varied, but all come under the general heading of 'enforcement of license provisions'.Since 1996, the license monitoring and enforcement program established by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Group has collected about $US17 million in unpaid and underpaid license royalties through formal financial audits and other investigative activities. During the same period, the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) settled more than 60 cases of suspected patent infringement, generating around 60 new licenses and collected both back and ongoing royalties. As these numbers show, an active and effective monitoring program is an essential part of any technology transfer or biomedical licensing program.