[Pharm-policy] U of Rochester biotech patent was invented on NIH grant

[James Love]

On April 11, 2000, the University of Rochester was awarded a broad
biotech patent covering the sale of all cox-2 inhibitors.  The April 12
press release from the University said the patent would is likely to be
"the most lucrative in U.S. history."  Rochester has sued Searle and
Pfizer over the sale of Celebrex, which they say infringes on the
patent, and the University says it will have broad application in many
other areas of medicine, including cancer and Alzheimer's disease.  The
US patent is USPTO 6,048,850.  According to the patent legend:


     "This invention was made with government support 
      under grant number DK 16177, awarded by the 
      National Institutes of Health. The
      government has certain rights in the invention."

Here is some background on this important government funded invention:U

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/Cox-2/pr.html

                        April 12, 2000 

For more information, contact:
Christopher DiFrancesco
(716) 275-3676

University of Rochester Awarded Patent for
New Class of Drugs Known as Cox-2 Inhibitors; 
Files Infringement Suit Against Searle, Pfizer
Historic drug patent is likely to be
the most lucrative in U.S. history


http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/Cox-2/

"The University of Rochester has been awarded a pioneering patent for
the treatment of a wide range of illnesses by the administration of
drugs that selectively block the activity of the cox-2 enzyme. It was a
University of Rochester research team, led by Donald Young, M.D., that
discovered the gene that produces the human cox-2 enzyme and recognized
that selectively blocking the activity of the enzyme would be beneficial
in treating inflammation and other medical problems 


This was the New York Times Story on the patent:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/051300ny-rochester-edu.html

May 13, 2000


         At University, Dreams of Billions and Billions

         By LYNDA RICHARDSON

              ROCHESTER -- The
              University of Rochester
              had ambitions to be a
         national powerhouse in medical
         research. And it had charted a
         meticulous 10-year plan to get
         there: get more research money
         from the National Institutes of
         Health, recruit 100 more
         biomedical scientists and
         construct two research
         buildings. 

         Then came the jackpot. 

         Last month the university
         announced that it had been awarded a broad 
         patent covering the use of a
         new type of painkiller that could bring in 
         billions of dollars in royalties. 

         So administrators, faculty and students at 
         the midsize university are mulling
         over how the institution could be catapulted 
         to prominence faster than
         anyone had dreamed. - 

  [snip]

The patent says that research conducted in the late 1980's and early
1990's by Dr. Donald Young, a professor of medicine and biochemistry at
the university, and two colleagues pioneered the development of Cox-2
inhibitor drugs. The popular medications are sometimes called
super-aspirin for their ability to alleviate pain while minimizing side
effects -- particularly stomach ulcers -- associated with frequent use
of aspirin, ibuprofen or similar painkillers. Super-aspirin has become
the pharmaceutical industry's fastest-selling product, and analysts
predict that the market for such drugs could grow to $12 billion per
year by 2008, said Terry O'Grady, associate counsel for the University
of Rochester Medical School. 



-- 
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James Love, Director           | http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology | mailto:love@cptech.org 
P.O. Box 19367                 | voice: 1.202.387.8030
Washington, DC 20036           | fax:   1.202.234.5176
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