The issue here might be that the royalty obligation would probably transfer to the buyer or licencer of the technology. An ongoing 5% royalty payment to UConn could present a bit of an impediment for potential buyers and maybe this renegotiaton is being prompted by an interested third party.

Also I think DR. Taylor would have a fair bit of sway with the universitie's administrators and if the original agreement was predicated on the one billion dollar evaluation and the indications are that this will be much higher with the new report, the admin would be inclined to consider a lower % and still see a higher bottom line. Especially if it helps speed up the process.