Partnering with NIH

NIH has a variety of agreements that allow companies, universities, and government agencies to leverage our unique and wide-ranging resources.

• Your specific goals will determine the most appropriate agreement, whether a transactional agreement, a co-development agreement, or a research-use or commercialization license. 
• A Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) allows you to discuss confidential or proprietary information with NIH employees, it limits the public release of the exchanged information, and either one-way or two-way agreements are possible.
• If you are with a for-profit company:
  • A Biological Materials License is required for transfer of materials from NIH;
  • A Collaboration Agreement is the simplest research collaboration agreement;
  • A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) allows you to more broadly negotiate terms and conditions and provide resources;
  • A Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA) defines: who will perform the trials; who is responsible for providing the drug(s) or other materials; and who has responsibility for complying with Federal regulations on protecting human subjects;
  • Exclusive and non-exclusive licenses are available for commercialization of an NIH invention.
• The NCI SBIR-Tech Transfer Program
• If you are with a non-profit or university, a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) will be required for exchanging research materials with an NIH scientist in order to memorialize the transfer. This is critical if the materials are human-derived. 

Deciding which type of agreement to use can be a challenge. Therefore, the TTC highly recommends that you discuss your interests with TTC staff. If you do not have a TTC staff contact, please reach out to our Invention Development and Marketing Unit.