By Donald Zuhn --
Last week, we reviewed prior Patent Docs reports discussing some aspects of President-elect Barack Obama's technology platform, including his positions on patent issues and follow-on biologics (see "A Second Look at President-elect Obama's Technology Platform"). We also reported on the response by some in the patent community to last week's election (see "Reaction to Historic Presidential Election"). While the results of presidential election -- and shake-up in Congress -- will almost certainly have a significant impact on U.S. patent policy and the creation of a follow-on biologics regulatory pathway, the election results will also impact biotech and pharma research. No area of the biotech industry is likely to see swifter and more pronounced change than that portion of the industry which is focused on stem cell research.
On Monday, the Washington Post confirmed what many of the President-elect's supporters already knew: an Obama Administration will be good for stem cell research (see "Stem cell supporters await their Obama moment"). According to the Post, John Podesta, the co-chair of the President-elect's transition team and President Clinton’s Chief of Staff from 1998 to 2001, stated that the President-elect plans to quickly reverse President Bush's 2001 directive limiting federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Geron Corp. CEO David Greenwood and Parkinson's Action Network CEO Amy Comstock Rick expect that as a result of the policy reversal, the industry will see a surge in funding. The Post notes, however, that for the next few months the industry will have to deal with the Bush Administration's status quo, since President Bush is expected to make no changes in his current stem cell policy. Addressing the current stem cell climate, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino asserted that "scientists from all over the world, and especially here in our country, have shown their innovation and their abilities to do embryonic stem cell research and make huge leaps in achievement without destroying embryos."
While things look far better for stem cell researchers from a policy standpoint, the Associated Press reported today that stem cell researchers will be facing a new obstacle in 2009: a lack of funding resulting from the current financial crisis (see "Obama election no panacea for stem cell industry"). The true impact of the financial crisis on stem cell research is hard to gauge, however, since the AP report notes that federal funding restrictions have led to much duplicative spending (as one example, the article cites Harvard's Stem Cell Institute, which purchases one set of equipment for use in federally funded research and another set of equipment for use in non-federally funded research). In addition, a reversal of the Bush Administration's stem cell policy might lure back stem cell research that moved to China or Singapore. Any reemergence of the U.S. stem cell industry, however, will depend on an influx of investment dollars, as funding in this country has declined by 65% since 1999. According to the AP report, one possible group of investors may be drugmakers, who are looking for ways to deal with the loss of patent protection on approximately $24 billion worth of drugs in 2009.
Human embryonic stem cells image: Ryddragyn, Wikipedia Commons
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