Acacia > Battle over patent for SARS gene.

[KRL]

War Over SARS: Who Gets the Patent?

The federal government has applied for a patent on the SARS coronavirus. This decision was made to keep the deadly contagion from private labs that might prevent information from free global use.

"Depending on who held the patent, it would tend to lock out competitors," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's goal is to keep the virus available for appropriate labs to use for research, diagnostic tests and the making of a vaccine. "We are very cautious that people applying for the virus have appropriate containment safety environments for the handling of the virus," she said.

There are concerns about the use of SARS for bioterrorism. An infectious disease from the family of the common cold that can live on surfaces at least 24 hours can be a deadly weapon in the wrong hands.

Researchers are not being sent the live virus but a "genetically engineered piece of the virus," Gerberding said during a briefing Thursday. Because the live virus should be handled only in a level 3 containment environment, this limits the number of labs and countries with research facilities that should have access to the living virus.

The British Columbia Cancer Agency has also applied for a patent on the genetic sequencing of the virus. Dr. Marco Marra, the scientist most credited with reading the genetic code, agrees that the virus code should be available to the scientific community.

CombiMatrix Inc., a U.S. biotechnology company which is part of Acacia Research Corp., has produced dozens of molecules that could eventually be used in drugs to fight the SARS epidemic. It has made DNA chips based on the genetic makeup of the virus responsible for SARS which have been sent to USAMRIID and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases among other labs. These labs will perform initial screening to find which ones can be developed into potential drugs to fight SARS.

The University of Hong Kong has filed for a patent on the SARS virus through its agency Versitech Ltd.

Since 1980, the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office has been allowed by a Supreme Court ruling to patent genes. This has been a subject of debate for more than two decades.

More than 500,000 patents have been applied for on genes or gene sequences, and the list is expanding. With molecular research just scratching the surface of possibilities, countries and companies are elbowing to grab the glory and the money.

After the public announcement by CombiMatrix, the subsidiary's tracking stock rose 20 percent. Scientists share in the monetary rewards when a gene is patented. The companies and governments who own a gene patent can use the money earned to put back into research. Private companies want a return on their investment, so a lab such as CombiMatrix doesn't want to put money into a project for which it has no patent protection.

The World Health Organization is taking a neutral position. "What we care about is the international collaboration continues to function," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said to the Associated Press. "Patents, they don't really concern us."

It can take about two years for a patent to be awarded.

[twistyneck]

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