Monday, April 26, 2021

NIH Scientist Who Developed Key Vaccine Technology Says Patent Gives US Leverage Over Big Pharma — Jake Johnson

A leading National Institutes of Health scientist who helped develop a key technology used in Pfizer and Moderna's coronavirus vaccines said this week that the U.S. government's ownership of the patent for the invention gives the Biden administration significant leverage to compel pharmaceutical companies to help boost global production.

Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the NIH's Vaccine Research Center, told the Financial Times in an interview this week that "virtually everything that comes out of the government's research labs is a non-exclusive licensing agreement so that it doesn't get blocked by any particular company."

Part of the team of scientists that in 2016 conceived the spike-protein technology being utilized in the highly effective mRNA vaccines, Graham told FT that "one of the reasons" he joined NIH was "to be able to use the leverage of the public funding to solve public health issues."

While Pfizer's partner BioNTech has licensed the technology from the U.S. government and is paying royalties, Moderna has not—and the Biden administration has not attempted to enforce the patent....
US government owns the patent on mRNA tech.

5 comments:

Matt Franko said...

The firms have their own patents:

“ BioNTech has more than a dozen patents and applications related to its mRNA COVID vaccine, including modified mRNA structures, mRNA formulations, and mRNA manufacturing processes. Moderna also has many patents and applications covering the COVID technology, ranging from compositions and formulations to manufacturing processes. ”

https://www.pharmexec.com/view/ip-and-covid-19

Matt Franko said...

Why don’t the turd worlders just negotiate like Trump did and give them the 20 bucks?

“ If the amounts funded were treated as purchase amounts, the Sanofi-GSK vaccine is costing $21 a dose, the Pfizer vaccine $19.95 per dose, the NovaVax vaccine $16 a dose, and the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine $4 per dose. But for all but the Pfizer deal, the price paid by the government is not just for doses of finished product but includes investments in technology and research.“

https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/31/operation-warp-speed-sanofi-gsk-covid19-vaccine/

It’s 20 bucks... peanuts., Out of munnie? Too stupid?

Matt Franko said...

Commies?

lastgreek said...

"Commies?"

If I were a philandering louse (like a Clinton or Trump, say), I guess I would be a commie, too -- in the sense of living in a commune with other people's wives. Isn't that where commies live, in a commune?

One of my college professors had lived in a Israeli kibbutz for a few years. He told us about life in a kibbutz. According to him, there was lots of sex... lots and lots of sex. You know, to an 18-yr-old like me at the time that sounded very appealing :)

Matt Franko said...

Bernie lived in kibbutz...