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review patent applications for cancer immunotherapy tool will enable users to make more informed policy
in half (final decisions achieved in less than twelve and investment decisions. It has the potential to help
months). This “Fast Track” review will be open to inform Securities and Exchange Commission filings,
new application filings from any applicant, includ- FDA reporting, National Science Foundation grant
ing early-stage bio-tech companies, universities, and applications and approvals, and philanthropic and
large pharmaceutical firms alike. Entities who have venture capital investments, achieving maximum
products already in Food and Drug Administration impact across a spectrum of innovation incubators.
(FDA) clinical trials will also be able to opt in to Following the release of the IP Horizon Scanning
the acceleration program in applications already on Tool, the USPTO’s Office of the Chief Economist will
file. With approximately 900 cancer immunotherapy host public workshops that bring together cancer
applications received by the USPTO annually from experts, policymakers, and data scientists to discuss
around the world, this program aims to move innova- how combinations of data sets can improve cancer
tive new treatments from conception through patent research. The goal will be to find the most efficient
approval, helping to swiftly reach the patient’s bedside. way to connect various agencies’ data and grasp the
To be eligible for the “Patents 4 Patients” program, insights contained within them.
an application must contain one or more claims to The USPTO’s new programs will provide the same
a method of treating a cancer using immunotherapy. protection to inventors more quickly while also con-
There are several other requirements, which can be necting federal agencies and research teams with
found on the USPTO website. There is no additional each other. While it is true that the Cancer Moonshot
fee to participate in the program. comes in the twilight of the Obama Administration,
Second, the agency aims to stimulate innovation the goal is to cultivate a host of programs and efforts
and improve economic competitiveness by unlocking that can be seamlessly packaged and passed along to
the potential in expansive data sets. The USPTO’s new the next administration. The productive competition
“IP Horizon-Scanning Tool” will sift through data of businesses and inventors, aided by the resources of
products contained in the USPTO’s Developer Hub government and the research prowess of academia,
data and will use applied data science to unveil trend promises to accelerate our march towards curing a
lines based on successful and failed immunology and disease that has left virtually no American untouched.
cancer-related product development and treatments. For the health of the nation and the world, these
Users will be able to build rich visualizations of intel- collective efforts must come to fruition. They remind
lectual property data as a way to locate meaningful us that when the various components of America’s
research and development at an earlier stage. Com- innovation ecosystem work together, no challenge is
bined with economic, funding, and litigation data, the insurmountable.