Feeling good about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Myriad Genetics that prevents genes from being patented? You may want to rethink it. Although the decision may have paved the way for more open research, but in the long term it may also lead to some unintended consequences. Investors will shy away from primary research and companies being much more secretive about discoveries until they can come up with clinical applications.
“Why would a private investor now invest in primary discovery if they didn’t fundamentally own it? A lot of discoveries will be kept secret until there are secondary patents and lots of them that protect that discovery.”
That was the view of Chris Velis, the CEO of medical device M&A firm MedCap Advisors. He spoke to MedCity News at the OneMedForum conference for life science companies who pitched their biotechnology and healthcare solutions to an audience of venture and angel investors.
Velis also talked about where medical device companies will seek primary funding if investors turn away and warned that the US will lose innovative technology companies to countries more willing to invest in them.
