[Ip-health] Nobel-winner slams medical industry for "moral corruption"

[Sarah Rimmington]

Asian News International reports that nobel-winning British scientist
Sir John Sulston has launched a new research institute in the UK that
will research the ethical questions raised by science and innovation. He
is concerned about several ip-health issues such as the patenting of
genes, access to medicines in the developing world and the need for an
international biomedical treaty.


Nobel-winner John Sulston slams medical industry for =91moral corruption=92
Posted July 7th, 2008 by Mohit Joshi
http://www.topnews.in/usa/

Nobel Prize-winning British scientist Sir John SulstonLondon, July 7:
Nobel Prize-winning British scientist Sir John Sulston has accused the
medical industry of giving rise to the "moral corruption".

He feels that experts these days are vying to make more and more profits
rather than taking care of the needs of patients, particularly in the
developing world.

Sulston, who is well known for his commitment to public medicine and his
opposition to the privatisation of scientific information, says that
researchers are concerned about private companies patenting genes and
genetic tests.

He is also concerned about the misuse of information, and what he terms
"disease mongering".

He is taking these concerns over the direction that science and medicine
are going in, onto a broader stage.

Speaking at the launch of a new research institute in the UK, which he
is to head as its chairman, Sulston revealed that the institution would
research the ethical questions raised by science and innovation.

He said that he wanted experts to formulate ground rules and guidance on
issues like the patenting of genes, and how people in developing
countries could have fair access to medicines.

Sulston hit out at the existing systems that placed the needs of
shareholders ahead of the needs of patients.

"Some people would say it is not corrupt because it is not illegal, and
that is true; but I consider that advertising a medicine that doesn''t
make clear any disadvantages of the medicine, or, in fact, the fact that
most people don''t need this particular medicine - I would cite, for
example, anti-depressants which are hugely oversold, especially in
America. This is the sort of thing I mean by corruption. It''s not legal
corruption; it''s moral corruption," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Sulston bemoaned that the world was at a crisis point in terms of
getting medicines to sick people, particularly in the developing world.

He stressed the need for an international biomedical treaty to iron out
issues over patents and intellectual property.

Sulston teamed up with bioethicist John Harris to set up the Institute
for Science, Ethics and Innovation, which is staging a one-day
conference on Saturday called =91Who Owns Science?=92.

Sulston shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on the
genetics controlling cell division. (ANI)

--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/