Why Moderna dumps the National Institutes of Health (Nih) on the Covid vaccine?
"Moderna took the money and help of the US government agency to make the vaccine and is now excluding Nih scientists from the patent," writes the Washington Post. Here's what happened
Moderna and the National Institutes of Health (Nih), the US government agency that deals with biomedical research, are competing for the authorship of the anti Covid vaccine, later marketed under the name of Spikevax.
The controversy, brought to light by the New York Times , could have consequences on future distribution and related proceeds.
ON WHAT MODERN AND NIH DO NOT AGREE
The vaccine arose from the four-year collaboration between Moderna and Nih. However, at the heart of the dispute is the contribution of Nih-funded scientists who worked closely with Moderna in the early days of the pandemic.
Not surprisingly, the government initially defined the serum as the "NIH vaccine – Moderna Covid-19".
THE MODERN VERSION
The drug company – which received public subsidies for its vaccine – in filings filed with the Patent and Trademark Office in July, said one of the vaccine's most important components was not co-invented with NiH colleagues. For this reason, the only names that appear are those of Moderna employees.
The company, reports the Washington Post , "has always recognized the substantial role that Nih has played in vaccine development […] at an inventive level", but also adds that "only Moderna scientists have designed mRNA-1273 itself. ".
THE VERSION OF THE NIH
The Nih, however, writes the NYT , says that three scientists from its research center – John R. Mascola, Kizzmekia S. Corbett and Barney S. Graham – actually collaborated with the Moderna researchers to make the vaccine. And which therefore should appear among the names of the documents filed in the patent application.
"Omitting Nih inventors from the main patent application deprives the Agency of a co-ownership interest in that application and the patent that will eventually be issued," said the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid).
If the three government scientists were included in the patent filing, the Washington Post adds, it would give the government a say in which companies and countries have access to the vaccine and its technology.
PUBLIC CITIZEN VS MODERN
Vaccines and drugs, the newspaper reminds us, are generally covered by multiple patents. In Spikevax's case, Moderna acknowledged the contribution of Nih scientists in only one of the four patents that researchers at the Public Citizen consumer advocacy group examined.
Public Citizen has urged the Nih to take action to affirm the role of government-backed scientists in the invention of the vaccine.
"We urge you to publicly clarify Nih's role in vaccine invention and to explain the steps you intend to take to ensure contributions from federal scientists are fully recognized, including any legal action," Public Citizen wrote to Nih Director Francis Collins. .
If the two sides fail to agree, a long and costly legal battle could begin, with major repercussions on distribution and profits.
Moderna, which had not marketed any other product prior to the Covid vaccine, received nearly $ 10 billion in public grants to develop, test and supply the drug of discord. And it has $ 35 billion in whey deals up to the end of 2022.
THE VACCINE FORMULA
The Massachusetts-based company was already in the spotlight for not wanting to share its vaccine formula and help narrow the gap between rich and poor countries.
“The suspension of the patent will not get us more RNA vaccines for the world either in 2021 or in 2022 because there is no residual production capacity in the world. We are dealing with new technology. You can't hire people who know how to use it. These experts simply do not exist ”, said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.
Groups like Public Citizen have urged the government to exercise its licensing rights to the vaccine to force Moderna to share the technology.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/perche-moderna-scarica-il-national-institutes-of-health-nih-sul-vaccino-anti-covid/ on Wed, 10 Nov 2021 09:42:47 +0000.