There’s nothing like having your own publication when it comes to “setting the record straight” after a rival has scored a marketing coup. Last month, MIT proudly shared with the media that it was becoming the first university to contribute intellectual property to the GlaxoSmithKline patent pool for “neglected tropical diseases,” diseases that predominantly or exclusively affect people in developing countries.

“By placing its patents in the GlaxoSmithKline pool, MIT agrees to allow other researchers to use its intellectual property to help fight neglected tropical diseases,” wrote Sarah E. Sorscher, a third-year Harvard JD/MPH student and a member of Harvard Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, in the Harvard Crimson. “But use is limited: According to GlaxoSmithKline, the intellectual property must relate directly to NTDs, and products that are developed from the pool will ‘go solely to the least developed countries.’ This small group of 50 least developed countries will exclude low- and middle-income nations like India, China, and Brazil, where a majority of the world’s poor live and most of the developing world’s affordable generic medicines are produced.”

Sorscher added: “While patent pooling may be a step toward opening up access to knowledge for researchers who wish to help people in developing countries . . . neglected tropical diseases are not the only diseases that kill people in developing countries: Heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and stroke are among the leading causes of death among people in poor countries. These diseases are not ‘neglected,’ because they affect the rich and poor alike, and new technologies are being developed to treat them. Yet it is the poor who disproportionately die from these diseases, due in part to lack of access to appropriate care.”

Sorscher then drove the knife home by reminding readers that Harvard, Yale, and Boston University had come together to support a joint statement announcing a broad-based commitment to “promote availability of health technologies in developing countries for essential medical care,” and that “MIT was invited to sign on to the statement but declined to do so, leading students to question whether the institution has lived up to its mission to ‘bring [its] knowledge to bear on the world’s greatest challenges.’ In this context, MIT’s patent-pooling announcement appears to be an unsuccessful attempt to catch up with Harvard and other Boston-area academic-research centers in the race to deliver essential medicines to patients in developing countries.”

Source: The Harvard Crimson

Posted June 8th, 2010 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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