California Healthcare Institute Submits Statement to California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Business Wire, Oct 5, 2007

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- The California Healthcare Institute (CHI) today submitted comments to the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's (CIRM) revised interim regulations addressing Intellectual Property Policy for For-Profit Organizations (IPPFPO) as released for public comment on Sept. 20, 2007. CHI is a non-profit public policy research organization for California's biomedical industry.

"CHI believes a strong intellectual property policy will advance CIRM-funded stem cell research and, ultimately, treatments for millions of people here in California and worldwide. This, in turn, will improve California's healthcare system, benefit the California economy, and further promote the state's biotechnology industry as a global leader. We hope that the ICOC will give careful consideration to our comments and incorporate them into the final policy," said David L. Gollaher, Ph.D., CHI president and chief executive officer.

CHI's comments centered around the success of the federal Bayh-Dole Act, legislation that created a single, uniform national policy designed to encourage private investment that would bring government funded discoveries to the marketplace, and the belief that this proven system offers a model to California. CHI believes that regulation should focus on intent of the law established with the passage of Proposition 71 - to "improve the California healthcare system and reduce the long-term health care cost burden on California through the development of therapies that treat diseases and injuries with the ultimate goal to cure them" (Prop. 71, Section 3.) Current provisions in the regulation that address pricing and access, revenue sharing, and march-in rights should not be the subject of policies and regulations pertaining to Prop. 71 and will create substantial disincentives to commercial interest in licensing CIRM-funded inventions.

CHI's full comments to the revised CIRM IPPFPO issued Sept. 20, 2007 are available at www.chi.org. CHI represents more than 250 leading medical device, biotechnology, diagnostics and pharmaceutical companies and public and private academic biomedical research organizations. CHI's mission is to advance responsible public policies that foster medical innovation and promote scientific discovery.