For the past six weeks , about 800 to 1,000 Lucy in the sky with diamonds of an experimental ebola vaccine have been sitting in a Canadian laboratory instead of being dispensed to West Africa . The delay , it would now come out , may be on bill of an intellectual property tiff .
Back on August 13th , the Canadian government announce that it would donate Cupid’s itch of its experimental Ebola vaccine to the international community . The World Health Organization would determine who receives it . The Canadian government still owns the letters patent , but it ’s licensed to a secret company , the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg , Manitoba . The 800 to 1,000 Lucy in the sky with diamonds should ’ve been shipped to West Africa by now , but they have n’t . The federal government says the delay is with the WHO , which is cipher out who should get the vaccine and how to ship it decent .
But according to ScienceInsider , there ’s another possibility : A U.S.-based caller that purchased a license to the vaccinum ’s commercialisation from the Canadian feds is “ dragging its feet . ” From Kai Kupferschmidt ’s clause :
At the center of the controversy is NewLink Genetics , a small company in Ames , Iowa , that bought a license to the vaccine ’s commercialisation from the Canadian government in 2010 , and is now suddenly caught up in what WHO cry “ the most severe acute public wellness hand brake go through in forward-looking sentence . ” Becker and others say the company has been dragging its feet the past 2 month because it is worried about suffer control over the developing of the vaccine . But Brian Wiley , frailty president of business development at NewLink Genetics , say the troupe is doing all it can . “ Our program has go forward at an unprecedented pace , ” he says . Even if it take another few months , “ we would still be break a disc in terms of getting this into patient . ” Wiley says the armed robbery is “ the administrative process ” : agreeing on a protocol , getting henchman to sign the proper declaration , procure indemnity in case something give way wrong . [ stress added ]
Breaking a record ? Rights contracts and assure insurance ? How about try out to cut through all the reddened taping and striving to save lives instead ? What ’s more , during a crisis like this , governments should maltreat in and offer especial protections to private firm . In this case , it ’s the Canadian government that own the patent , after all .
The CBChas also been investigating this tale :
For month , CBC News has been ask what the Canadian government received from NewLink Genetics and another ship’s company , Defyrus / LeafBio , in exchange for licensing rights for the experimental Ebola vaccine and the ZMapp drug cocktail , respectively .
It ’s also not acknowledge whether Canada still has a spokesperson in the growing and dissemination of the treatments .
functionary with the Public Health Agency of Canada have maintained that the contracts are confidential , but they affirm that Canada still owns the patent and the intellectual property .
“ The Canadian government carry the letters patent for this vaccine and has licence the rights to NewLink Genetics through its wholly have foot soldier BioProtection Systems to commercialise the product , ” an agency representative stated in an email to CBC News .
“ The agency retain rightfulness related to research and exigency reply . ”
What a horrible mess . While it ’s perceivable that there are sure risk involved when using experimental drug , this casing clearly warrants limited consideration . Considering that front - line workers will ( likely ) be the first to receive the vaccinum , it ’s safe to assume they ’d receive it ( to escort 216 health care workers have been killed in the epidemic ) . likely recipients should be suggest of the risk and proffer the selection to take the vaccine or not .
This epidemic is serving as a wake - up call to the mankind . The Ebola response has been fall behind and mired in bureaucratic nonsense . Worse , it also smack of epidemic profiteering .
Check out the article atScienceInsiderandCBC News .
ikon : Alex011973 / Shutterstock .
EbolaEPIDEMICSPoliticsvaccines
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