[Pharm-policy] Patent on CCR5 protein

[James Love]

These types of biotech patents are a good reason to have compulsory
licensing authority in a country's patent laws.    Jamie


http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/a62679-2000feb17.htm

Human Genome's Stock Soars
By Justin Gillis  Washington Post Staff Writer 
       
Thursday, February 17, 2000; Page E03 

Shares of Human Genome Sciences Inc. jumped 21 percent yesterday after
the company won patent rights on a critical pathway that the AIDS virus
uses to enter cells.

   [snip]


The patent the company announced grants it rights to exploit a protein
on the surface of human cells. The protein, CCR5, is a "receptor"--a
sort of docking site--that apparently plays only a minor role in normal
human biology. But it plays a major role in the life cycle of the human
immunodeficiency virus, serving as a kind of trapdoor for the virus to
enter cells.

Interest in the receptor has been high ever since researchers discovered
that people with defective copies of it can have HIV for many years
without getting sick. In effect, they are born with the trapdoor jammed
shut--a "defect" that seems to do them no harm but does make them
virtually immune to AIDS.

Companies are working on drugs that would block the receptor in people
with normal copies of it.

Human Genome Sciences is working on such drugs itself, and it has cut
deals with a half-dozen other companies to allow them to pursue similar
research. The Schering-Plough Corp. of Madison, N.J., said last month it
had begun laboratory tests on a compound that may block HIV's entry into
cells by targeting CCR5. No company has entered human tests with such a
drug, however.

The new patent ensures that Human Genome will win a share of the profits
if any such drugs ultimately come to market. The patent therefore
positions the company to benefit from one of the hottest areas of AIDS
research. Scientists are working to develop a new class of AIDS drugs,
called "fusion inhibitors," that work in various ways to block the
virus's entry into cells. One such inhibitor, not based on CCR5, has
entered advanced human tests and appears to be quite potent against HIV.

Alex To, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston who follows Human
Genome, noted that recent controversy over gene patents had spooked some
investors. They found it reassuring yesterday, he said, that the company
was able to secure a patent on such an important gene as the CCR5
receptor. "The patent certainly is a very important message that the
company is sending to the street," To said.


    [snip]


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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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