A Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) is a contract used to govern the transfer and permitted use of tangible research materials (such as biological samples, compounds or prototypes) between organisations, typically in academic or early-stage commercial collaborations. It is used where materials, which refers to any tangible research material such as biological samples, reagents, cell lines or plasmids. These materials are shared for evaluation, validation or research purposes prior to, or separate from, any broader collaboration or licence arrangement. The MTA defines the permitted use of the materials, allocates rights in any results or derivatives, and protects the provider’s intellectual property (IP) while managing liability and regulatory risk. In practice, MTAs are a key risk-control mechanism in life sciences transactions, ensuring that the exchange of valuable materials does not inadvertently compromise future commercialisation opportunities or create uncertainty as to ownership of downstream developments. For more information, see Precedent: Material transfer agreement.In a similar manner, a data transfer agreement (DTA) governs the sharing and permitted use of data