Patent bill endangers Texas research

Texas was at the center of last year’s Ebola crisis when the virus reached U.S. shores in Dallas. Now, the state is back in the news for a different reason — local scientists may have discovered a way to treat the fatal disease.

Researchers at the San Antonio-based Texas Biomedical Research Institute have come up with a new drug that stops the Ebola virus from reproducing in lab mice.

The treatment must undergo years of additional testing, but researchers are optimistic it could one day save thousands of lives.

Unfortunately, an overly broad patent reform proposal from Washington could undermine this type of research and dry up funding for hundreds of other drug development projects. Texas members of Congress must work to protect the state’s promising medical research.

The original purpose of patent legislation was to protect against “patent trolls” — entities that seek to acquire patents through frivolous lawsuits in an unfair shakedown of businesses and universities.

Our Texas universities have been working with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who has been most helpful, to solve some of these patent problems.

As the U.S. House focuses on the issue, we hope they will work diligently as well, so that we can not only sustain but also strengthen the crucial and innovative research being conducted by the biopharmaceutical industry in Texas.

Texas hosts more than 3,600 biotech firms working to solve America’s toughest health challenges.

For example, Kiromic, a biotech company founded by Texas Tech University researchers, is developing promising new immunotherapy-based products that have the potential to vastly improve the way cancer is diagnosed and treated.

DNAtrix in Houston is in the final stages of creating a genetically modified virus for use in cancer therapy.

In Austin, Terapio Inc. is experimenting with biotherapeutics to counter radiation exposure in military personnel and emergency responders.

Such biopharmaceutical research produces breakthrough medical treatments and massive benefits for the Texas economy.

The biopharmaceutical sector supports 134,000 Texas jobs and adds $31 billion to the state economy.

However, the proposed “Innovation Act” being considered by Congress could cut funding for medical research and development by altering patent protections.

Patents encourage medical research by giving biopharmaceutical companies the exclusive right to own any discovered drugs. Such exclusivity gives companies a chance to recoup the money they spend researching and developing a medicine.

Without patent protections to guarantee exclusive ownership and marketing rights, investing in new drug research would be too risky. If firms have to scale back their research efforts, they’ll employ fewer workers and produce fewer new medications.

The Innovation Act would increase the legal costs of defending a patent. The bill would lengthen patent disputes and require innovators to file hundreds of pages of complex paperwork.

Patent holders would have to lawyer up. Hefty legal fees could prove too expensive and prevent many small inventors, including universities, from defending their designs from patent violators.

In fact, the Innovation Act would uniquely burden universities, which often license their patented inventions to private-sector companies in exchange for royalty fees.

Such patent revenue supports university budgets and improves educational quality, which is why Texas Tech University, the University of Texas, Texas State University and 140 other universities have asked Congress to ensure the Innovation Act doesn’t target valuable research.

Patent protections encourage medical innovation and clinical trials, which generate lifesaving treatments while boosting Texas’ economy.

Texas leaders should vote against the Innovation Act, unless there are major changes, to ensure that crucial biopharmaceutical research continues to thrive.

Kent Hance is a former U.S. congressman and former chancellor at Texas Tech University.

This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Patent bill endangers Texas research."