The 2024 NIH Deep Dive
Virtuosos vs. Polymaths
A National Institutes of Health 2024 Deep Dive
Today, we’ll share what we learned about the patents granted to inventors funded by the NIH in 2024.
The Count
In 2024, HHS funded 2,626 patents, 2,589 of which were funded by one or more NIH institutes. NIH is responsible for 98% of patents granted to inventors funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. Here is the breakdown by institute. These patents contain 3,253 individual institute citations of NIH grants and/or contracts.
Please note there are patents where the inventors cite funding from NIH but have not provided contract or institute information.
HHS Patents Not Funded by NIH
In 2024, 40 patents cited an HHS entity that was not NIH as funding the inventor’s discoveries. These patents have 63 individual funding citations.
Virtuosos and Polymaths
This year, FedInvent started looking at patents funded by a single federal department - the Virtuosos, and those funded by multiple departments - the Polymaths. For NIH, we looked at what inventions were funded by a single NIH institute, NIH Virtuosos, and which were funded by multiple institutes, NIH Polymaths.
Single Department Virtuosos vs. Multi-Department Polymaths
Researchers, scientists, and inventors receiving federal grants tend to find their lane and stick with it. In 2024, 89% of all taxpayer-funded patents were funded by a single department. Eighty-six percent (86% ) of HHS-funded patents were funded exclusively by HHS and its agencies.
NIH-funded patents follow a similar pattern. Of the 2,589 patents funded by NIH and granted in 2024, 2,230 (87%) patents were funded exclusively by HHS. Three hundred fifty-nine (359) were funded by one or more federal departments. The patents that cite HHS and other departments include:
National Science Foundation (NSF) — 161
Department of Defense (DOD) — 147
Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) — 35
Department of Energy (DOE) — 29
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) — 6
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) — 5
Department of Commerce (DOC) — 3:
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) — 2
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — 1
Department of Education (ED) — 1
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — 1
Single Institute Virtuosos and Multi-Institute Polymaths
We wanted to see if NIH followed the same single entity pattern at the department level. In 2024, 1795 (70%) of NIH patents were funded by HHS and a single institute at NIH. Of all of the patents that cite NIH as a funding source, 2065 (80%) cite funding from a single NIH institute. The rest of the patents had citations from more than one NIH institute as funding the research that led to the inventions.
The table below is a summary of taxpayer-funded patents organized by NIH institute.
The table is also available online. Follow this link.
DOD and NIH
We took a closer look at patents where inventors cited funding from both NIH and DOD. Here is what we found.
Inventors citing DARPA and NIH were funded by a variety of DARPA programs, including DARPA’s Safe Genes program,
Patents with USAMRMC’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research programs cited as a funding source also include 38 patents funded by NCI, eight funded by NIAID, and eight each funded by NHLBI and NIBIB. Seven were funded by NIGMS. NINDS funded six.
Intramural Research
In 2024, 112 NIH-funded patents are classified as intramural patents because they have one or more inventors who are federal employees. One hundred twelve is a floor. FedInvent classifies a patent as Intramural when we find an inventor who is a federal employee. Unfortunately, patent inventor data, the names on the patents, do not align with the names of scientists and researchers classified as intramural researchers at NIH. We’re working on it.
Polymath Collaborations
We found standout patents funded by NIH and others that resulted from collaborations.
A convergence of big data research grants and the need for better tools for cervical cancer detection resulted in US Patent 12073559, METHODS FOR AUTOMATED DETECTION OF CERVICAL PRE-CANCERS WITH A LOW-COST, POINT-OF-CARE, POCKET COLPOSCOPE. This patent was funded by NIH, the National Geospatial Agency (NGA), an intelligence community entity, the Army Research Office, and the National Science Foundation.
The Duke University affiliated inventors cite the following grants:
Two National Geospatial Agency grants — HM01771310007 titled NURI: Learning to Exploit Big Data awarded in February 2013, and HM04761610001, Network Interface and Analysis of Big Dynamic Data, awarded in February 2016. An NSF grant funded in 2013 — 1318168, Learning to Parsimoniously Model and Compute with Big Data. NCI grant CA195500, A Viable Solution for a See and Treat Paradigm for Cervical Pre-cancer in Africa is the NIH contribution to the funding. This NIH grant commenced in 2015. The Army Research Office funded W911NF1610088, MULTIMODAL SUBSPACE LEARNING AND MODELING OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS. This project started in 2016.
A Collaboration With the Republic of Kiribati
There’s the fishy collaboration between the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). US Patent 11878057, IMMUNOMODULATORY LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE COMPOSITIONS. The invention is for lipid A molecules engineered from Moritella lipopolysaccharides and uses thereof. Moritella viscosa is a Gram-negative pathogen that causes large, chronic ulcers, known as winter-ulcer disease, in the skin of several fish species, including Atlantic salmon.
The patent is assigned to Boston University, the Children's Medical Center Corporation also in Boston, and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development, an agency of the tropical Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. Aranteiti Tekiau, or Teiti (pronounced Tace), is a researcher from Kiribati.
Next up at NIH is the confirmation and arrival of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. Dr. Bhattacharya is a professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations who the Trump Administration has nominated to lead the National Institutes of Health. He is also one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which got him thrown off of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to seeing the trajectory of NIH R&D and discoveries under Dr. Bhattacharya’s leadership.
If you have questions, please let us know. Email us at info@wayfinder.digital.
Next Up - National Science Foundation
Our next newsletter will look at the patents awarded to NSF in 2024. We look at both the vintage of the grants and the durability of the grants they awarded, the grants that keep on giving.