Technology Transfer and Bioethics of the Public Good in Genomic Biomedicine

Abstract: Technology transfer offices (TTOs) are inflection points where largely publicly funded research becomes intellectual property and enters the public sector via licensing. TTOs accordingly have become targets of concerns about commercialism’s effects on biomedical research and development (R&D). Voiced by both bioethicists and members of the public, these concerns have affected technology transfer practices (e.g., AUTM 2007). Still, some bioethicists have recently suggested further changes in the public interest: for example, aligning TTO activities with universities’ public missions and commitments by building stakeholder advisory bodies, or developing new impact metrics (Joffe et al. 2023). While these developments are promising for the pursuit of equity and justice, they fall short of reckoning with both the contested nature of the public good and universities’ public missions and the profound influence of commercialism on postgenomic biomedical R&D. Drawing from work in the field of science and technology studies (STS) on biocapital and bioeconomies, this presentation describes ongoing research focusing on judgments of public value and the public good within technology transfer on behalf of the research university. Especially as technology transfer enters a new era in conjunction with new precision and personalized genetic treatments and amid widespread struggles over the ownership and values of the research university, it is vital for bioethics to cultivate a deep understanding of the ethical dimensions of biomedical R&D. This includes how its values are understood, assessed, and put into practice in the name of the public good, informing resource allocation and shaping trajectories of health and biomedicine.