UC San Francisco

Campus Notes:

  OTT’s “Top 25” inventions in FY96 (see p.13) included seven from UCSF. Three inventions accounted for 92% of UCSF’s income and virtually all of income growth. The Hepatitis-B Vaccine earned $25.4 million, $5.4 million of which was paid to the University of Washington as joint holder of one patent. The Process for Splicing Genes, managed by joint holder Stanford, generated $12.7 million, and Human Growth Hormone generated $5.3 million.

  The number of UCSF invention disclosures increased 36% from FY95 to FY96. This was not yet reflected in initial patent filings, which remained steady. The number of secondary filings decreased dramatically, reflecting the fact that FY95 filings were unusually high due to patent law changes related to GATT. Two-thirds of patent expenses were reimbursed by licensees in FY96. New licensing activity increased, with 25 licenses completed.

  The $610,000 drop in net legal expenses is largely due to decreased litigation costs for ongoing infringement actions involving Insulin and Human Growth Hormone. The University’s loss in the Insulin infringement trial is now on appeal, while the Human Growth Hormone matter has yet to go to trial. The majority of legal defense expenses were incurred for an ongoing action involving the MRI portfolio. The University has prevailed on all counts in this matter, which is now on appeal by the plaintiff.

  The $1.4 million increase in inventor share payments from FY95 to FY96 reflected a $4.6 million increase in income from FY94 to FY95. The State share increase for FY96 reflected the fact that income growth exceeded growth in expenses and inventor distributions. OTT operating expenses remained relatively stable.

  A combination of all the factors listed above resulted in a 36% ($3.5 million) increase in net income for FY96.

PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY