In 1976, corporations became eligible for unlimited donations to political parties. The number of lobbying committees began to grow, in 1974 there were 89 of them, by 1982 there were 1467. The assets of public companies and state organizations were freely transferred to private hands. For example, in pharmacology, many studies were funded by the National Institutes of Health. In 1978, some companies received the rights to free use of patents for related developments.