Author Archive: Roy Zwahlen

Roy Zwahlen

Roy is a Manager of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer policy at BIO and the main contributor for Patently Biotech. He is a lawyer by training, with a background in international and national politics. He grew up in the developing world and believes that innovation can and does solve many of the world’s problems. Because of this, his work focuses on creating a worldwide policy environment that fosters innovation in the biotechnology sector to prevent and cure diseases such as HIV, to increase crop yields to feed more people, and to decrease the harmful effects of industry on the environment. Roy spends his free time keeping up with his two kids, a wife that knows everything (no joke), and serving in his church and broader community. Learn more about Roy from his Linkedin Profile.

Latest Posts

Taiwan’s Translational Research (or lack thereof)

Taiwan Flag - Matthew Fang

Brady Huggett concludes in this article that, “… perhaps the biggest strike against Taiwan is a lack of translational research. There is no collective mindset that envisions products from research. And if biotech is to drive the future economies of countries around the globe, there has to be nationwide efforts to turn academic research and publicly-funded lab work into something that can benefit patients and be sold. We’ve talked about it before on this blog Read More >

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Myriad Genetics’ actions justify a ban on gene patents?

Virus

The following information was provided by Myriad’s General Counsel during his presentation on the subject during a recent BIO IP conference: In order to develop and then ensure the widest possible distribution of the Myriad BRCA diagnostic test, Myriad needed to make the initial discovery, educate the medical community on the values of personalized medicine (the BRCA test), convince insurance companies to cover the test, and educate the patient community.  All of these activities took Read More >

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Banning Gene Patents Will Promote Innovation?

Hampton Roads Partnership

Abolishing gene patents will deter, not promote, innovation, as the patent eligibility of isolated DNA molecules provides incentives necessary for development of life-enhancing diagnostics and therapeutics. R&D to identify genes, their sequences, genetic variations, and their disease  correlation is very costly. Claims like those of the patents at issue in the Myriad Genetics lawsuit have been a key foundation supporting the massive investment of time and capital that is necessary to bring life-enhancing DNA-based diagnostics Read More >

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USTR: TPP to have High IP Standards to “Stand Alongside other Treaty Agreements in the Area”

Stan McCoy, Assisant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation, spoke at BIO’s 2011 Convention session titled The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Importance of Intellectual Property Rights: Attracting Investment in Biotechnology.  The session covered the ongoing treaty negotiations and the relevance of different IP provisions to the biotechnology industry.  Issues of particular importance to the biotechnology industry yet to be revelead to the public include language tabled for data protection and patent linkage.  While USTR specific language is not available, Read More >

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Patents in the U.S. Supreme Court

joseph a

A special session at the 2011 BIO International Convention takes a fascinating look at the underlying factors involved in the U.S. Supreme Court hearing patent cases. The Supreme Court has been accepting patent cases at a higher rate than ever before, with three major patent appeals reviewed this past term alone.  And the Court seems poised to accept several more in the coming year. According to the session moderator, Chief Judge (Ret.) Paul Michel from Read More >

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