Biotech and Pharma Opposition to Senate Patent Reform Bill

    By Donald Zuhn –-

Last week, we reported on nine letters that were sent to the Senators of eight states between December 12, 2007 and January 29, 2008 by a collection of universities, businesses, and organizations.  In the letters, the signatories contend that the Senate’s patent reform bill will harm innovation and result in the loss of American jobs.  While the signatories represent a wide array of technologies, we were specifically interested in the number and identity of biotech and pharma companies that had signed the letters.  To this end, we determined that of the 211 different signatories, 58 are biotech or pharmaceutical companies.  In view of the common perception that patent reform will have a disparate impact on the biotech/pharma industry, it is somewhat surprising -- but perhaps pleasantly so -- that only 27.5% of the signatories are biotech and pharma companies.  The biotech and pharma signatories include (with an indication of the letters each company signed; see key below):

• Abbott - C, D, H
• Advanced Cancer Therapeutics (ACT) – E
• Agennix, Inc. - D, H
• Allergan - D, H
• AllTranz - E
• Altea Therapeutics - A
• AM Biotechnologies, LLC - D, H
• Amgen - E
• ApoImmune, Inc. - E
• AptaMed, Inc. - D, H
• AstraZeneca - D, G, H
• Asuragen - D, H
• BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - D, H
• BioTHER Corporation - D, H
• Cellumen, Inc. - G
• Centocor, Inc. - G
• Coldstream Laboratories, Inc. - E
• Dako Colorado, Inc. - B
• Demegen, Inc. - G
• Emagin Therapeutics - E
• Endovasc, Inc. - D, H
• Four Tigers - E
• GlaxoSmithKline – C, G, I
• INCELL, Inc. - D, H
• Integral Molecular - G
• Johnson & Johnson - G
• Knopp Neurosciences - G
• Leuchemix - E
• Lexicon Pharmaceuticals - D, H
• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center - D, H
• Merck - D, H, G
• Nano-Mite Technologies, LLC - E
• Naprogenix, Inc. - E
• Neurobiotex, Inc. - D, H
• Niadyne Development, Inc. - C
• Novera Drugs, LLC - E
• Novomedics - D, H
• Occular Transplantation, LLC - E
• Oraceuticals, Inc. - E
• Orthopeutics LP - D, H
• Pfizer - I
• PLx Pharma, Inc. - D, H
• Pradama, Inc. - E
• Precision Therapeutics, Inc. - G
• Procter & Gamble - A, G, I
• ProteoPure, Inc. - G
• RhinoCyte - E
• Scout Diagnostics - E
• Sentinel Pediatric Biosystems, LLC - E
• Spherix Inc. - E
• Stallion Therapeutics, Inc. - E
• Stem Cell Innovations/Amphioxus Cell Technologies, Inc. - D, H
• Suregene, LLC - E
• TGen - C
• Topaz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - G
• VisiGen Biotechnologies, Inc. - D, H
• VitaTech, LLC - E
• Yaupon Therapeutics – E

A:  Letter to Senators Chambliss and Isakson (2007-12-12) – 10 signatories
B:  Letter to Senator Allard (2007-12-17) - 33
C:  Letter to Senators McCain and Kyl (2008-01-18) - 28
D:  Letter to Senator Hutchinson (2008-01-22) - 54
E:  Letter to Senators McConnell and Bunning (2008-01-23) - 51
F:  Letter to Senators Reid and Ensign (2008-01-23) - 19
G:  Letter to Senators Specter and Casey (2008-01-24) - 29
H:  Letter to Senator Cornyn (2008-01-27) - 54
I:  Letter to Senators Alexander and Corker (2008-01-29) – 15

Last month, we also reported on a letter in opposition to the Senate bill that was sent on October 23, 2007 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).  That letter was signed by 437 universities, businesses, and organizations.  We are currently analyzing the list of signatories to the October 23 letter, and hope to supplement the above list in the coming week.