[UFO Chicago] SARS Patent

[Neil R. Ormos]

Larry Garfield wrote:

> Relating to tonight's discussion:
 
> http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cp_health_home&articleID=1323070

A U.S. official used a similar rationale to justify the
filing of patent applications in the United States.

>From a 2003/05/06 press conference with Julie
L. Gerberding, M.D., Director of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

] QUESTION: [ . . . ] And then the other question is the
] CDC is one of many parties that is applying for a
] patent on the SARS virus.
] 
] Can you just talk a little bit about what the purpose
] of that kind of a patent would be.
] 
] DR. GERBERDING: [ . . . ] Your question about patents
] is a story that's unfolding. Our highest priority in
] all of this was to get information about SARS and the
] SARS genome and the SARS coronavirus into the public
] domain as quickly as we possibly can.
] 
] That's why we published the genome on the Web site. The
] concern that the federal government is looking at right
] now is that we could be locked out of this opportunity
] to work with this virus if it's patented by someone
] else, and so by initiating steps to secure patent
] rights, we assure that we will be able to continue to
] make the virus and the products from the virus
] available in the public domain, and that we can
] continue to promote the rapid technological transfer of
] this biomedical information into tools and products
] that are useful to patients.
] 
] So from our standpoint, it's a protective measure to
] make sure that the access to the virus remains open for
] everyone.

  <http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/t030506.htm>