On May 7, 2025, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the “Prospective Grant of an Exclusive Patent License: Size-Dependent Brain and Lymphatic Distribution of Macromolecular Drug Delivery Platform” (90 FR 16878) to Sangam Lifesciences, Inc. (“Sangam”). The license is to be worldwide and its field of use is the “Use of the Patent Rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a poly (L-lysine succinylated) (PLS) alpha-galactosylceramide prodrug for human and veterinary uses in the treatment of cancer.”
As with numerous other previous NIH prospective licenses, the company set to receive the exclusive license from the NIH has almost no public information available, severely hindering the public’ ability to comment on the appropriateness of the exclusive license in a detailed and/or meaningful way. In our comments KEI highlighted this issue as well as offered terms the NIH should include in its license to help ensure affordable and equitable access to this technology should it come to market.
KEI’s full comments are available here: KEI-Comments-NIH-License-Sangam-7May2025