Letter: Patents are key to investment

Your editorial "Patents vs. progress" [Sept. 4] does not adequately discuss the importance of private investment into genetic diagnostics, and the key role that patents play in obtaining this investment. Preclinical discovery research, the type of research typically funded by the National Institutes of Health, is just one small step in the commercialization of medical technologies.

Medical technologies such as genetic diagnostics often need significant clinical studies to achieve Food and Drug Administration approval and make it into the hands of physicians to enhance patient care. These clinical studies often require significant capital, which is provided by private investors (angels and venture capitalists) and not the NIH. These investors would not fund these critical clinical studies without an opportunity to generate a return.

Patents play a significant role in whether private investors are able to generate a return and therefore willing to fund clinical studies because they provide a limited period to exclusively sell into the marketplace. Take away this limited exclusivity, and you take away any incentive for investors to fund clinical studies. And without clinical studies, there are no medical technologies to benefit society.

I'm not saying the patent system is perfect. But until either 1) noninvestor capital is available to put genetic diagnostics through the entire commercialization process (not just basic research and discovery), or 2) there is some other mechanism to allow investors some limited control, taking away the patent system would significantly decrease the number of genetic diagnostics that receive FDA approval.

Michael R. Bielski, Stony Brook

Editor's note: The writer is an assistant director for science and technology commercialization at Stony Brook University.