Ellwein L B, Kroll P, Narin F
National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2510, USA.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1996 Nov;37(12):2495-503.
To examine the linkage between the funding of ophthalmologic and related biomedical research and the development of patented eye-care technology using data on patents granted and the scientific literature cited by those patents.
The United States patents granted during the 20-year period from 1975 through 1994 were screened using patent office classifications and key words to identify all eye-care-related patents. Each patent's nonpatent references (references to literature other than previously granted patents) were examined, and those references to scientific papers then were reviewed to determine the authors' institutions and acknowledged funding sources.
Major findings include the following: (1) Eye technology innovation has grown steadily, with a threefold increase in number of patents granted from 224 in 1975 to 662 in 1994. (2) The cited scientific base that supports this technology has grown even more rapidly, with a sixfold increase in the average number of nonpatent references, from fewer than 0.5 per patent in 1975 to more than 3.0 in 1994; as a result, the total number of nonpatent references has increased by a factor of 20, from 100 in 1975 to 2000 in 1994. (3) The National Eye Institute is the leading single institution in providing support for this research: 31% of all eye-care patents with science references cite papers that contain at least one acknowledgment to National Eye Institute (NEI) support; and when NEI is combined with the rest of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 41% of the patents with science references are linked to NIH-funded research. (4) Patent science dependence, as measured by science references, is greatest for technologies related to medical treatment, surgical instruments, and intraocular lenses; moderate for diagnostic instruments and contact lens; and least for eyeglasses.
The NIH and other sponsored vision research is of direct and increasing relevance to the growing number of US patented eye-care technologies.
利用已授予专利的数据以及这些专利所引用的科学文献，研究眼科及相关生物医学研究的资金投入与专利眼保健技术发展之间的联系。
使用专利局分类和关键词对1975年至1994年这20年间授予的美国专利进行筛选，以识别所有与眼保健相关的专利。检查每项专利的非专利参考文献（对先前授予专利以外的文献的引用），然后对那些对科学论文的引用进行审查，以确定作者的机构和认可的资金来源。
主要发现如下：（1）眼技术创新稳步增长，授予专利的数量从1975年的224项增加到1994年的662项，增长了两倍。（2）支持该技术的引用科学基础增长更为迅速，非专利参考文献的平均数量增长了六倍，从1975年每项专利少于0.5条增加到1994年的超过3.0条；因此，非专利参考文献的总数增加了20倍，从1975年的100条增加到1994年的2000条。（3）国家眼科研究所是为这项研究提供支持的主要单一机构：所有引用科学文献的眼保健专利中有31%引用了至少包含一项对国家眼科研究所（NEI）支持认可的论文；当将NEI与国立卫生研究院（NIH）的其他机构合并时，41%引用科学文献的专利与NIH资助的研究相关。（4）以科学参考文献衡量的专利对科学的依赖程度，在与医疗治疗、手术器械和人工晶状体相关的技术中最高；在诊断器械和隐形眼镜中适中；在眼镜中最低。
国立卫生研究院及其他赞助的视力研究与美国越来越多的专利眼保健技术直接相关且相关性日益增加。
