# 2243
A hat tip to Crof over at Crofsblog for picking up on this story, written by new flu blogger Edward Hammond and appearing in Grain.
US government lays patent claim on bird flu virus
20 August 2008
Published in SUNS #6539 dated 15 August 2008
Bogota, 14 Aug (Edward Hammond*) -- In a development that is likely to raise more pressing questions about reform of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN), an international patent application has surfaced in which the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and US National Institutes of Health claim ownership of Indonesian influenza genes.
A recent patent search has revealed that the CDC, which is a WHO collaborating centre, is applying for a patent for a new vaccine against influenza, particularly for bird flu (H5N1). The vaccine incorporates genes from a H5N1 strain isolated from an Indonesian human victim of bird flu in 2005.
The strain that contains the genes was transferred to the WHO GISN by Indonesia for characterization for public health purposes, but may wind up as the property of the US government.
Under US law, the US government agencies would offer licenses to the technology to pharmaceutical companies. The patent application indicates that the US government intends to pursue the claim in most countries of the world, including Indonesia itself, as well as neighboring countries.
Intellectual property rights and International law are both complex areas that Mr. Hammond apparently plans to address with some regularity on his blog Immunocompetant.
