OHSU researchers were issued a record 26 U.S. patents in fiscal year 2013

Oregon Health & Science University researchers were issued more U.S. patents in the 2012-2013 fiscal year than ever before while OHSU's Technology Transfer and Business Development office signed 81 “commercialization” agreements with private industry, another record and evidence of private industry’s interest in OHSU discoveries and technology.

The patent and commercialization numbers are among the annual statistics released this week showing OHSU's growing success in linking its research and scientific discoveries with private industry, private markets and public benefit.

"We believe OHSU is making great gains in moving our research discoveries into startup companies and into the private market, ultimately improving people's overall health," said J. Timothy Stout, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., OHSU vice president for Technology Transfer and Business Development. "We are also doing more and more to partner with private industry to help bring about tomorrow's medical discoveries."

OHSU's Technology Transfer and Business Development office released its annual figures for the fiscal year that ended this past June at its annual awards event on the evening of Sept. 18 in Portland.

Among the highlights:

• OHSU signed 98 industry-sponsored research agreements with private industry, compared to 81 in the 2012 fiscal year. These agreements allow for private industry support of OHSU research. That support is increasingly important as the federal government continues to cut or slow spending on medical research.
• OHSU signed the 81* commercialization agreements – either license or option agreements — with private industry, a 45 percent increase from the 2012 fiscal year and also a record. These "commercialization" agreements allow for the owner of a technology to grant rights to another party to use or evaluate the technology.
• OHSU's 26 patents issued in the 2013 fiscal year were a 30 percent increase from 2012 and a 117 percent increase from 2011. OHSU also filed another 90 applications for new U.S. patents, a 66 percent increase from 2012 and another OHSU record.
• OHSU fostered the formation of two new startup companies in the 2013 fiscal year, resulting in a total of nine OHSU startups in the past four years.
• The OHSU TTBD office also completed 452 "material transfer agreements" in fiscal year 2013. Material transfer agreements are required when important research materials are transferred from another institution or entity for use by OHSU researchers, or transferred from OHSU to another institution. They are an important barometer of OHSU researchers collaborating with other scientists and institutions around the world to advance scientific knowledge.

The TTBD office also received 103 new inventions from OHSU researchers in fiscal year 2013, some of which may eventually turn into granted patents and out-licensed technologies. OHSU researchers have submitted an average of 116 new inventions per year for the past four years.

*An earlier version of this news release incorrectly stated OHSU signed 98 commercialization agreements in fiscal year 2013.

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