U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
NIH Office of the Director (OD) <http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/>
NIH Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) <http://www.ott.nih.gov/>
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 31, 2010
CONTACT: Karen Rogers, 301-435-4359, <e-mail:rogersk@xxxxxxxxxx>
NIH TEAMS WITH PAY.GOV TO SPEED TECH-TRANSFER PAYMENTS
A new payment site within Pay.gov will make it easier for companies that license inventions owned by the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration to make their royalty payments. Royalties are typically paid upfront for biological materials and over the term of a commercial patent license. The project is led by the Office of Technology Transfer and the Office of Financial Management at NIH.
By eliminating the need for bank checks, this bank-to-bank transfer system can shorten the processing time from several months down to a day or less. This also will reduce the administrative costs by moving from a paper system to a secure electronic system.
"The new Pay.gov process will hasten the pace of technology transfer to the private sector, enabling business to commercialize important discoveries made by scientists in NIH and FDA laboratories," said OTT Director Mark Rohrbaugh. "Our licensees have been asking for such a service for years, because waiting too long to secure research materials or tools can sink a drug development program or other business venture. Pay.gov is open 24-7, and we encourage its use for all types of royalty payments."
Companies, universities and other research organizations can pay royalties on Pay.gov starting today by going to <https://www.pay.gov> and clicking on NIH in the agency list.
Pay.gov is a multifaceted web-based application allowing anyone to make Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments to government agencies by debit from a checking or savings account. Pay.gov was launched in 2000 and is maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. For more information, visit <https://www.pay.gov/paygov/faqs.html>.
The NIH Office of Technology Transfer administers approximately $90 million annually in royalty payments from about 500 companies, and licensees reported product sales of approximately $6 billion last year. The OTT manages the patenting and licensing of the wide range of NIH and FDA inventions. The commercialization of government-owned inventions is encouraged and governed by the provisions of the Federal Technology Transfer Act and related legislation. For more information, visit <http://www.ott.nih.gov>.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit <www.nih.gov>.
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