On December 26, 2024, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the “Prospective Grant of an Exclusive Patent License: Anti-KK-LC-1 T Cell Receptors for the Treatment of Cancer” (89 FR 99888) to StraightLine Bio, Inc.
The technology set to be licensed to StraightLine Bio is the same set of inventions that were licensed to T-Cure Biosciences in October this year, albeit for similar, yet different fields of use. KEI submitted comments to the NIH regarding the T-Cure license as well.
Straightline Bio is a company with almost no public information available. It has no internet presence and was registered in Delaware as of September 2024.
The NIH confirmed that the technology to be licensed is at the clinical stage and has two ongoing NIH-funded clinical trials. With such little data available about the company, how can the NIH expect the public to provide informed comment on the need for a license on an exclusive basis for a potentially important treatment that is significantly de-risked by the NIH?
KEI’s full comments are available here: KEI-Comments-NIH-License-StraightLine-Bio-26Dec2024