Earlier this month, Colorado College’s Kristina Lybecker, Associate Professor of Economics and Business, received news that she had been awarded the Thomas Edison Innovation Fellowship.
This fellowship is run by the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at the George Mason University School of Law. It is an integral component of the CPIP’s effort to promote discussion about intellectual property rights. Through their research, the fellows will examine the moral and economic value of patented information.
Lybecker has been studying patent and data exclusivity for over twenty years. Though she has yet to pick a specific topic of research, she states that it will probably fall within the realm of the biopharmaceutical industry.
Lybecker may choose to focus on biologics, which are pharmaceuticals made from living organisms.
“They are the cutting edge of medicine right now,” said Lybecker. “It’s difficult to do research on them so intellectual property protection is especially important. People will stop doing research if they don’t have the patents they need to bring the drug to market and thus make a little money from it.”
Unlike most other fellowship applicants, Lybecker did not have to apply for it. “They sought me out,” she said. “They just contacted me one day and told me I’d been awarded the fellowship.”
The first of four meetings for the fellows will take place in March and focuses on research methodologies and the development of research ideas. Lybecker is very excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with other scholars in the field, whom she may not have met in another context.
“I hope to get some research inspiration at the first meeting,” said Lybecker. The second meeting will allow fellows to present their proposals and receive feedback.
At the last meetings, fellows will draft and finalize research papers to be published in law or other peer reviewed journals. Lybecker has already published research evaluating Canada’s intellectual property protection for pharmaceuticals, an examination of alternatives to the patent system, and the balance between patent protection and access to medicine.
After this experience, Lybecker will share her knew knowledge and findings with her students.
“I have two classes I can see it fitting into,” she said. “One is a class on economics and global health. The other is called Industrial Organization. It deals with with firm strategies, basically how business do what they do. I think my research could end up being a great case study.”
Students interested in these topics should look out for Lybecker’s classes in the next year.
Montana Bass
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