(Update: The NIH provided a response to our comments on April 15, 2021.)
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) submitted comments on April 14, 2021 to the Federal Register notice for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) “Prospective Grant of Exclusive Patent License: Chimeric Antigen Receptors Targeting CD56”, (86 FR 16602) to be licensed to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Care (MSKCC).
The technology to be licensed concerns,
“novel antibody binders and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that target CD56 or NCAM, a glycoprotein that is highly expressed in a variety of cancerous cells. Based on current available data, the intended use for the invention is anti-CD56 CARs for the treatment of CD56 positive cancers such as multiple myeloma.”
The license to MSKCC is to be exclusive, worldwide, and sublicensable, with the explicit intent of consolidating the patent rights with MSKCC towards further development and commercialization of the invention. Although it is always important that the NIH incorporate terms that safeguard the public’s interest, it is particularly critical in light of the explicit intent of this license of expediting the commercialization of these inventions. In our comments, KEI outlines provisions the NIH should include in the terms of this license, and any sublicense entered into by MSKCC.
KEI’s full comments are available here: KEI_Comments_NIH_License_MSKCC_14April2021