Zolinza: patented from NIH-funded research, then Medicare paid $3.7M for it in 2024

Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research reported a patent on this drug to NIH as an invention made with NIH grant money. Merck Sharp and Dohme lists it with the FDA as protecting Zolinza.

Patent reported to NIH as grant-funded

Medicare paid, 2024

$3.7M

before rebates

Medicare, 2020–2024

$17M

$49K per patient in 2024

Medicaid paid, 2024

$509K

before rebates

NIH grants behind the patents

$669K

whole-grant totals, not the drug's cost

The public record, link by link

1 · Public money
NIH grant to Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research, $669K in all.
2 · Patent
7456219, reported to NIH under R21CA096228.
3 · FDA approval
Approved Oct 6, 2006, held by Merck Sharp and Dohme (NDA 021991).
4 · Public pays
Medicare paid $3.7M in 2024 for 75 patients; Medicaid $509K.

What Medicare paid for Zolinza

Medicare Part D and Part B gross spending by year, before manufacturer rebates.

The grants

Totals are everything NIH paid on each grant since 1985. A grant usually funded more than this one invention.

Grant	Research	Years	NIH paid
R21CA096228 NCI	Development of Oral Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research	2002–2003	$669K

Grant

Research

Years

NIH paid

R21CA096228

NCI

Development of Oral Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid

Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research

2002–2003

$669K

The patents

Patents the FDA lists for this drug that were also reported to NIH as grant-funded inventions.

US 7456219
Polymorphs of Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid
Reported by Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research
FDA-listed expiry Mar 11, 2027

Merck's side

Drug makers pay for the clinical trials that take a compound from the lab to FDA approval, and they often license the patent from the university and pay royalties on sales. Those terms are not public. The FDA's approval records for Zolinza are linked above, and Merck's page shows its other drugs on this list. If Merck wants to add its account, we will publish it here.

How this is built. Universities and companies that use NIH grants must report the inventions those grants produce to NIH, under the Bayh-Dole Act. NIH publishes the patent numbers and the grants they were reported under. We match those patents to the patents drug makers list with the FDA for each approved drug (the Orange Book), then add what Medicare Part D, Part B and Medicaid paid for each drug. Only patents still listed with the FDA appear, so drugs whose patents have expired drop out, and biologics, which the Orange Book does not cover, are not here yet.

What the numbers mean. "NIH grants" is everything NIH paid out on the grants a patent was reported under, from 1985 on. A grant usually paid for more than the one invention, so it is not the cost of the drug. Medicare and Medicaid figures are gross spending before the rebates drug makers pay back, which are confidential. Companies also paid for the clinical trials that took these drugs to approval; each drug page links the company's own filings.

Sources: NIH RePORTER patents reported under NIH grants (from iEdison); NIH RePORTER project funding; FDA Orange Book patent and product files; Medicare Part D Spending by Drug; Medicare Part B Spending by Drug; Medicaid Spending by Drug. Updated 2026-11-05.