SBIR and STTR Adapt to Rule Changes, Aim for Investor-Owned Biopharma Companies

On Monday, January 28, 2013, the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will adapt to rule changes contained within the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.R. 1540) that are designed to attract more small biopharma companies and other technologies to SBIR and STTR in the future. 

H.R. 1540 reauthorized SBIR and STTR for an additional six years through the 2017 fiscal year. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) lobbied for the changes contained within the legislation, and predicted in a statement that SBIR "now will be an aggressively competitive program that fulfills federal research and development goals of bringing breakthrough public health discoveries to the public."

The provisions contained within H.R. 1540 state that small businesses that are majority owned by multiple venture capital companies, private equity firms, or hedge funds could now compete for 25 percent of SBIR funding at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation and 15 percent of SBIR funding at all other participating agencies.

This key change to SBIR does limit participating companies and their affiliates to 500 employees, however, will not rule participating companies as affiliated with separate companies in the event they share one or more investors. 

GEN BIO ran an excellent piece describing the potential impact these rule changes have on the life science industry - specifically on early-stage biopharma companies. 

Will these changes affect your business? Tell us how.