Mahidol's Ebola treatment to be patented shortly

[webfact]

Mahidol's Ebola treatment to be patented shortly
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's Intellectual Property Department will register a patent for an antibody treatment for the deadly Ebola disease internationally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Department director general Malee Choklumlerd said Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, which developed the vaccine, had asked for the antibody treatment to be registered.

Malee said registering it with the Patent Cooperation Treaty meant it should be protected worldwide.

Thailand signed up to the treaty in September 2012.

Under the treaty, Thai inventors can register their patents quickly, cheaply and with wider protection. The treaty permits the filing of a |single application for a patent |covering more than one country. The process identifies the patent application to be considered in a large |number of countries within a specified period.

However, Malee said the procedure for registering the patent would take at least 30 days to several months for advertising and checking.

The move follows the announcement on October 3 by Mahidol's Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital that it had achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of the deadly Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever, with potential for commercial distribution within one year from now. This has increased the world's hope of combating the deadly disease that has already claimed thousands of lives in Africa this year.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Mahidols-Ebola-treatment-to-be-patented-shortly-30244911.html

-- The Nation 2014-10-07

[noitom]

International media today gave only a very small reference in one case to the Thai "claim" of a cure. Rather they focused on ZMapp which is currently going through rigorous testing now. The Thai "claim" by Mahidol was dismissed as something that might be noteworthy in a year or two for another look.

[quidnunc]

"However, Malee said the procedure for registering the patent would take at least 30 days to several months for advertising and checking."

Advertising? Did the author mean "advisement" or "advising"?

Edited October 7, 2014 by quidnunc

[SoilSpoil]

I am sure Mahidol won't mind that foreign governments and companies might overrule the patent rights now and then.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6587379.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/world/asia/11iht-pharma.4.5240049.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[cloudhopper]

They have applied for a patent not been awarded one. I see that the Nation is doing its part to further the national hubris by calling this development a vaccine and a treatment.

[chasntong]

Where does it say Mahidol has not been awarded a patent, they have only just applied

[Oziex1]

Does it work?

[Camilo Diaz]

well, this is great news. I hope it works.

[silverhawk_usa]

"However, Malee said the procedure for registering the patent would take at least 30 days to several months for advertising and checking."

Advertising? Did the author mean "advisement" or "advising"?

My interpretation of this is that it most likely must be advertised in professional journals, or whatever, in other countries to assure this is an original patent and no one else has a counter claim to the same product. Just an assumption on my part however.

[cloudhopper]

Where does it say Mahidol has not been awarded a patent, they have only just applied

In my post above yours.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Thailand's first potential contribution to the world and they want to cash in?

Really?

[Sviss Geez]

I am sure Mahidol won't mind that foreign governments and companies might overrule the patent rights now and then.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6587379.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/world/asia/11iht-pharma.4.5240049.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

To quote from your own links...

"Actually what Thailand has done is completely legal under international trade regulations."

Edited October 7, 2014 by Sviss Geez

[Oziex1]

Thailand's first potential contribution to the world and they want to cash in?

Really?

Commercial gain is acceptable so long as it is not held back from desperate situations where it is needed, if this is a real cure where is the international fanfare?

[Sviss Geez]

Thailand's first potential contribution to the world and they want to cash in?

Really?

It's not Thailand's "first potential contribution to the world", it is a potential contribution by a company (a private university) and like every discovery by any company in any country it is allowed to protect it's interests regardless of whether you regard it as cashing in.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Sviss Geez

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

^^ I agree they should get some compensation to pay for past and future research but Thailand forgets how often the rest of the world generously gives them truckloads of cash for efforts like Tsunami relief.

[Shazdeb]

How about we all just stop the nastiness and wait and see, I for one hope this is all true. and if anyone thinks that all these medical research associations are not CASHING in then your deluded and living in a dream state. Medical research is all about the money and fair enough, they spend huge amounts to do the research so they deserve to protect their investment and recoup monies spent to continue the work, otherwise no further " discoveries " would be made. Lets all for once have a go at being happy and positive

[TDCNINJA]

These people can't even solve a simple double murder and you clowns want me to believe they have the technical prowess to cure ebola.

Yeah, okay....

[FangFerang]

Thais routinely ignore pharmaceutical patents, and now want protection from the same system they ignore. I liked it better when they just made generic drugs for their own people and circumvented the patent laws (which in regards to "orphan drugs" and "patented" medical procedures are truly laughable opportunism).

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

It's just more of Thailands 100% of Zero mentality

In all likelyhood it's not going to be the Cure and they will have patented something of marginal to no value.

The Thai govt could have offered to grant the Uni more funds for trying to help the rest of the world.

If Thailand invented something that could prevent a potential global pandemic then they should and probably would get lots of credit and continued generosity that they have receiving for decades.

Their attitude is "what we actually have some of value?" "What is it worth to you?"

[HeijoshinCool]

The Hub of blatant disregard for intellectual rights, a deadly disease that has recently killed 3000, and theses guys say …..

[silverhawk_usa]

These people can't even solve a simple double murder and you clowns want me to believe they have the technical prowess to cure ebola.

Yeah, okay....

How are these two events even remotely related?

[Don Aleman]

1) .they didn't even have an Ebola sample to test it on, 2), The US has not yet evaluated their findings, 3). Patents can take 10 YEARS ! to issue, 4). If all is accurate and true and the rest of the world "honors" patents similar to the way Thailand does, you'll be able to buy it at Swenson's ! ( in 10 years ! ).

[dominique355]

It will be interesting to see Thailand's reaction when their patent will be expropriated by other countries to make it cheaper for the poor patients.

[thatswhatuthought]

Any country will be allowed to copy this without breaking the law if they are affected by Ebola.

[PaullyW]

Let's see how it goes. Thailand's medical research community is not too terrible (especially for a newly middle-income country), but in general we all know the country does not much innovate. But yeah given the fact they seem to generally be unable to do even the most simple things - such as join two pieces of pipe together properly or put traffic lights in or stand in a proper queue or walk straight keep the power on consistently or deal with the yearly flooding and drought cycle or ...

Yeah, let's just see how it goes.

[Somtamnication]

Sorry, Mahidol. BS has already been patented by the Americans since 1776.

[arnestockholm]

Well I am sure it will not work very well. As the team not even have access to the real virus and testing it with synthesised Ebola genes. This means nearly nothing and in my eyes they just try to get some subsidies. They not even have the technical equipment like gene sequencing and other things like computerized modelling of the molecule. So it's just another hero Thailand sorry. And this time a real bad one that give out some hope! That's just a fake!

[Usernames]

Where is it? What happened?

[mark131v]

I believe the treatment they are patenting is 100% accurate but requires not going to an endemic zone or coming into contact with any carriers, very effective....

[partington]

This is NOT a vaccine, it is an antibody, and as a "treatment" has never been shown to have any clinical effectiveness whatsoever.

A vaccine causes the body to make antibodies, it is not an antibody itself. Vaccines pre-expose you to the disease pathogen in an inactive form, and cause you to make antibodies that immunise you against the disease, that is prevent you getting it, if you are exposed to it in the future.

An antibody is a treatment that you use on someone who has already caught the disease : it will bind to the pathogen and help the body kill and eliminate it.

The Thai agent that is being patented is a humanised monoclonal antibody to part of the Ebola virus synthesised in a lab. All it does is bind to this bit of the Ebola virus. While a handy tool, there is no indication at all that it can ever be used as a treatment, because it has never been tested. Plenty of antibodies bind to their targets in the lab but do not work as "cures" when injected into human beings.

The ZMapp drug is a mixture of three antibodies made exactly like the Thai one, except developed many years before the Thais developed their single one. Because any single monoclonal antibody which recognises only a single small part of the Ebola virus is unlikely to be very effective alone, the Zmapp deveolpers used a mixture. The body's normal immune response is to make a set of antibodies to different parts of any pathogen so ZMapp mimics the body's immune response more effectively.

They are at least ten years ahead of the Thai group which has merely developed one antibody of unproven clinical effectiveness.