September 19, 2003

2 Universities Team With Pharmaceutical Giant to Seek Back Royalties on a Patented Technique

To the hundreds of colleges and pharmaceutical businesses whose scientists have for years been using a common technique for separating proteins, a company created by Indiana University, Purdue University, and Eli Lilly and Company has a not-so-gentle message: The free ride is over.

The new company, Inproteo, recently obtained a license from Lilly for the rights to the so-called His-tag technique. While the patent still has some life to it, the enterprise is mounting a major campaign