Federal research and inventions can contribute to the development of life-saving drugs, vaccines, and medical devices. One way this happens is that the National Institutes of Health licenses its intellectual property to private companies that have the resources to bring products to market. NIH received up to $2 billion in royalties from its contributions to 34 drugs sold from 1991-2019. But how does licensing support NIH's public health mission? What other benefits—e.g., drug affordability, or increased innovation—do taxpayers get in return? We recommended that NIH make more information available about its intellectual property licensing.