30 maio 2003

CONTAMINANTES
SARS and the Patent Race: What Can We Learn from the HIV/AIDS Crisis?
Scientists and doctors are engaging in a friendly race to search for treatments for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Meanwhile, their lawyers have been engaging in a totally different race.
In the past month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and the University of Hong Kong have been battling to patent the coronavirus that is believed to cause SARS.
Although no institution can currently claim a monopoly on the treatments for the disease, the patenting race has sparked major concern in the public health arena. If an individual or an individual company could indeed obtain such a monopoly, the results could be disastrous.