Underreporting Federal Development in New Technologies Developed at the Scripps Research Institute

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This final report points out weaknesses in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) procedures for monitoring compliance with provisions of the Patent and Trademark Amendments Act (Act) of 1980 at the Scripps Research Institute (SRI) of La Jolla, California. The NIH was not aware of inventions being developed at SRI with NIH grant funds, and therefore could not provide assurance that the objectives of the Act were being met. Information from NIH showed that only 51 (41 percent) of the 125 patents awarded to SRI were developed with help from Federal grant funds. However, after we raised questions about the accuracy of SRI's reporting, SRI, on June 30, 1993, revealed to NIH that 96 of its patents were developed with the help of Federal funds. We are recommending the NIH determine if SRI properly reported all patented inventions and that NIH establish procedures to better monitor SRI's compliance with the Act.

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