Media Coverage
Source: Bloomberg
Media Coverage
09.04.13
Edward Taylor, a chemistry professor at Princeton University, invented a compound which pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly turned into the $2.5 billion-a-year cancer drug Alimta. Princeton patented Taylor’s invention and received $524 million between 2005 and 2012 in license income, mostly from Eli Lilly. The school used part of the money to build a new chemistry building and pay $118 million to faculty through 2011 beyond their salaries.
Residents of Princeton, New Jersey are suing the municipality and the university, requesting that the school lose its tax-exempt status because it shares royalties with faculty. The dispute raises the question of whether a university should commercialize its patents or leave them in the public domain.
William Atkins, head of Pillsbury’s intellectual property litigation team, commented that it can cost drugmakers $100 million or more to develop a compound and conduct the necessary tests for regulatory approval to market a drug.
“They wouldn’t have invested that money because the rights wouldn’t have been exclusive” if the invention were placed in the public domain and not patented, Atkins explained.