WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Patenting, marketing and licensing of new technologies developed by government researchers working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will now be conducted by the department itself, following a policy change recently announced by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.
"For many years, VA did not establish the ownership rights to the new technologies our researchers developed," said Principi. "As a result, our department has lost the revenues those rights generated, and the opportunity to show America's veterans and others the results of our research."
Past policy was to leave ownership with the researchers. As a consequence, others brought new products to market and received whatever royalties and revenues those products generated.
VA now intends to rigorously evaluate all inventions developed using department funding, educate VA inventors about their rights and obligations, obtain patents, and work to bring new products to market. Innovations produced cooperatively with the organization's research partners will be jointly owned and developed.
Eighty-five percent of the revenues derived from new technology will be distributed between the laboratory where the successful researcher works, the VA hospital associated with that laboratory, and the researcher. The remaining funds will be used to administer the program.
While federal law limits the amount of compensation any government researcher can receive for inventions, the department intends to be as generous as the law allows in providing compensation for researchers' work, Principi said.
According to Principi, "Reinvesting resources in our research laboratories will help further the work of all the researchers at those laboratories, and providing funds to facilities from licensing revenues will help us to provide better care for veterans."
Dr. John R. Feussner, VA's Chief Research and Development Officer and principal architect of the new rules, said "Our plan will help make VA facilities exciting places to work intellectually. Sharing revenues between facilities and laboratories encourages interaction between researchers and clinicians. These interactions will improve the quality of our research work and make it more applicable to the needs of our patients."
Principi announced the new rules April 12 at a meeting of VA investigators, administrators, attorneys, clinicians and representatives of many of the nation's leading medical schools. He urged medical school representatives, in particular, to understand and accept the changes VA has made.
"This new system will help us to serve veterans better," he explained. "Veterans are the reason VA exists, and if we can find a way to improve the care we provide to them, that is what we will do."
VA's $1.25 billion annual research program has long been in the forefront of cutting-edge medicine. Researchers working for VA have played key roles in developing the cardiac pacemaker, the Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT) scanner, the Seattle Foot, and the nicotine patch.
The first liver transplant was performed at a VA medical facility, and VA researchers pioneered the first successful drug treatments for high blood pressure and schizophrenia.
