Confidentiality agreements (CDAs) are used to protect proprietary or non-public information that is disclosed in the course of evaluating a possible business relationship. These are also referred to as Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) or as Secrecy Agreements.
CDAs protect UCSF and UCSF scientists in several ways:
- They allow UCSF researchers to discuss interesting new findings without compromising their future patentability.
- They memorialize what was discussed between the scientist and the company, so that if later there are questions about who originally developed an idea, we have a record of when the discussion took place.
- A CDA allows UCSF researchers to review and share company data or protocols with other UCSF employees to better evaluate opportunities for collaboration.
Industry sponsors will often ask UCSF to sign a CDA as a precursor to a sponsor-initiated clinical trial or sponsored research project. If you think you may need a CDA or if you have received a CDA from a company, please contact your assigned Industry Contracts officer or send an e-mail to [email protected] with a copy of the agreement, the sponsor's name and contact information, any relevant correspondence, and if applicable, a brief description of any UCSF confidential information you plan to disclose.