Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

[sharon sanders]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

As Outbreak Continues, Confusion Reigns Over Virus Patents
by Kai Kupferschmidt on 28 May 2013, 4:45 PM

snip


At issue now is the MTA, a document that most biomedical laboratories routinely use when they exchange cells, samples, or pathogens. It governs, among other things, what the receiving labs can do with the virus. The MTA for the MERS virus, which was obtained by ScienceInsider, stipulates that the virus material still belongs to the original provider (in this case Erasmus MC) and that the recipient cannot give it to other labs. It also asks for written consent from Erasmus for using the virus for commercial purposes.

While Erasmus's MTA is not claiming ownership of the virus in countries where it exists or has been isolated, it is protecting its legal ownership of the virus samples that it shares with other institutions, says David Fidler, a legal scholar at the Indiana University, Bloomington, who has studied the international sharing of pathogens. "The press release and the MTA preserve Erasmus's rights to seek IP rights for vaccines and medicines related to research done on the virus sample from Saudi Arabia," he says. But Erasmus's MTA is "a fairly standard agreement," Fidler says. "There is nothing here that suggests to me that this needed a massive amount of negotiation ? nothing where I thought that's unusual or highly restrictive."

more...

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/05/as-outbreak-continues-confusion-.html

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

I don't think that healthcare should be free either. Everyone deserves to be compensated fairly for their time and investment.

However, when there is a health threat that has a 50%-60% fatality rate I think that maybe profit motive should not be the primary concern.

By 'free market' I meant that it should not be a capitalistic venture. I believe at times, such as in pandemics, the government needs to put forth the capital to develop vaccines and protect the people, even if that capital eventually is lost. We as tax payers would simply accept this as part of the cost of insuring that we don't all end up dead from lack of vaccine. All the privatization of health care from start to finish is going to be the death of us all.

 

[Emily]

Re: WHO: dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus which has killed 22 worldwide

Re: WHO: dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus which has killed 22 worldwide

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4d1d20c-c488-11e2-bc94-00144feab7de.html#axzz2UFfsPrkt

May 24, 2013 11:14 pm
Researchers challenge Saudi coronavirus patent claims
By Andrew Jack in London


[snip]

The remarks sparked firm ripostes from the Dutch and UK institutions that they had not patented the virus itself and they swiftly analysed it and shared their findings with public health officials in more than 40 countries around the world to accelerate diagnosis...

:magnify:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206639

Erasmus officials have rejected the criticism and said they have supplied samples to all labs that want to use it for public health research and are equipped to handle if safely. But Osterhaus told BMJ, "We have patent applications submitted and that is on the sequences and the possibilities to eventually make diagnostics, vaccines, antivirals, and the like. It's quite a normal thing if you find something new to patent it."

Normal, but should it be legal to patent naturally occurring life forms? Who really 'finds' a virus? He must mean the first to describe it.

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

Finding something new, doesn't mean you invented it.

I disagree with their premise.

The person that 'found' it was the person who first contracted it.

The virus needs to be made available to labs, so they can go ahead and make their 'blockbusting' drugs and vaccines that drive the health care 'free market', but, the concept that viruses or DNA for that matter that exists in nature is patentable is to me, nonsense.

If some one 'finds' my DNA, are they entitled to my clone?

I don't think that the business model can coexist with the public health model. I think we are courting disaster. Making vaccine is a risky business. Often they fail or the pandemic fails and the investors lose their money. It seems to me, that our safety as a species would be better ensured if governments absorb that loss via tax funded programs for research. I feel more confident when research is done by the government.

I also have to say, had that virus NOT been sent to the Netherlands, I don't know where we would be today, in terms of knowing what we are dealing with. I applaud the doctor that sent that sample to EMC.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

hat tip IanM

May 30, 2013

MTAs vs IP, ethics and incorrect statements.



This collection seems to have become a side-story for a range of articles of late, that relate to MERS. As I've already noted, its not MERS-specific issue, its also not new. A few things from my own opinions:

1. I have a few MTAs open in front of me as I write this. I have them because in the past I have requested primer sequences, or virus or constructs from someone else. They are all written differently. They do share an indemnity clause to protect the Sender; a stipulation that they not be sent on without that new party also signing the MTA; some notes on working safely with the Material. They state that the Provider/Sender owns the intellectual property rights on the Material (so it has been or can be patented). Sometimes they clarify that if the Material is to be used for commercial purposes, that can happen, but will require more negotiation. You know - talking to each other.
   
   

more...

http://www.uq.edu.au/vdu/#300513

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

Source: http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuter...ARS-like_virus_tests_plague_of_patent_trolls/

Breakingviews: New SARS-like virus tests plague of patent trolls
5/31/2013 COMMENTS (0)
By Robert Cyran

NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - A new SARS-like affliction is testing the plague of patent trolls. The MERS coronavirus first found in Saudi Arabia already has killed more than two dozen people and the World Health Organization warns it is an emerging threat globally. The case also stretches intellectual property law far beyond smartphones, where most of the recent high-profile battles have taken place. When the stakes are this high, though, greed often plays a lesser role...

 

[Paul McGinnis]

Re: Novel Coronavirus, Italy: 25 close contacts of confirmed cases tested for the virus (La Repubblica, June 2 2013, extract)

Re: Novel Coronavirus, Italy: 25 close contacts of confirmed cases tested for the virus (La Repubblica, June 2 2013, extract)

Does anyone else find that the WHO calling on the world to pull together its resources to study and tackle the virus and researchers putting a patent on the virus to give out signals that this virus is yet another arena to gain a one-upmanship on others less fortunate of the human race? It used to be the basics such as food and medicine were immune to this, but times have changed. I am glad the younger generation is acutely attuned to stuff of this nature, and are getting ready to deal with this ugly human trait.
In the meantime, it seems to be the coronavirus vs. the humans. Let the games begin!

 

[Nika]

Re: Novel Coronavirus, Italy: 25 close contacts of confirmed cases tested for the virus (La Repubblica, June 2 2013, extract)

Re: Novel Coronavirus, Italy: 25 close contacts of confirmed cases tested for the virus (La Repubblica, June 2 2013, extract)

Does anyone else find that the WHO calling on the world to pull together its resources to study and tackle the virus and researchers putting a patent on the virus to give out signals that this virus is yet another arena to gain a one-upmanship on others less fortunate of the human race? It used to be the basics such as food and medicine were immune to this, but times have changed. I am glad the younger generation is acutely attuned to stuff of this nature, and are getting ready to deal with this ugly human trait.
In the meantime, it seems to be the coronavirus vs. the humans. Let the games begin!

This sounds like something for a discussion thread - not news

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Discussion - Dispute over ownership rights on coronavirus ncov

Source: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139443/david-p-fidler/who-owns-mers?page=show

Who Owns MERS?
The Intellectual Property Controversy Surrounding the Latest Pandemic
David P. Fidler
June 7, 2013

While closing the World Health Assembly on May 27, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that an outbreak caused by a new coronavirus (a type of virus associated with respiratory illness) had become ?a threat to the entire world.? Chan is right to be worried: the disease she was talking about, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), is deadly. And it is not just a health challenge. The outbreak has also led to a global legal controversy over ownership and sharing of dangerous viruses -- issues that Chan has promised to investigate...