原文出處 Berliner Bericht 柏林中文新聞 (所有圖文皆屬原著作權人所有)
正當美國吉利德(Gilead)公司的原研藥瑞德西韋成為武漢肺炎救命藥在中國臨床適用之時,2月4日武漢病毒研究所搶注瑞德西韋專利權事件令公眾震驚,吉利德CEO回應事件時稱:專利不是我們的首要任何,我們的責任是治病救人。
2月5日一段吉利德CEO 丹尼爾·奧戴(Daniel O’Day)回應搶注專利事件的視頻在社交媒體上傳播。
在記者提問後,奧戴錶示:我想給所有人的信息是,這對我們應對全球健康問題沒有任何影響。我只是想非常清楚地表明,我們的責任是患者。我們的首要責任是尋求正確的臨床項目,通過科學和臨床證據確定該藥確實能對患者帶來影響,與此同時如果確定可以提高產量,我們會將將藥品提供給全球需要的患者。
專利不是我們的首要任務。我想說的是,因為我和我們的專利同事核實過,就像我們在吉利德的任何藥物一樣,我們不僅為這種化合物申請了瑞德西韋(Remdesivir)的專利,還為它在世界各地的應用,包括冠狀病毒申請了專利。但我們不會陷入專利糾紛。我們會找到一種方法來幫助病人,當然保護我們的知識產權作為一個獨立的步驟,但患者至上。
(Q: Recently there was some reporting that China’s Wuhan Virology Institute together with the Chinese Military Academy, they applied for the patent of Remdesivir. So obviously this is a delicate balance between fighting the epidemic, saving lives, vs IP protection question. So it’s a little bit probably delicate. But I do want to know what is Gilead’s reaction to the application and what’s Gilead’s stance if China’s IP authority approves this application, and how we’re going to continue to manage the control of Remdesivir development and also retaining the right to help fighting the epidemic.
A: Thank you so much. It’s a very relevant question. And obviously it just came out overnight, and like everything with regard to Remdesivir, ah, you know we are moving as quickly as we can. I think my message to you and everybody is that has no impact on what we are going to do with global health. I just want to be tremendously clear here that our responsibility is the patients. And our responsibility is number one: pursue the right clinical programs to determine whether or not this medicine has impact with patients or not, and it’ll be driven by the science, by the clinical evidence. And at the same time, ramping our production up, in the event that it does, we can get this medicine to as many patients around the globe as needed. Patent is not at the forefront of our minds. I will say, ‘cause I checked with our patent colleagues, that as we would with any medicine at Gilead, we have patents on Remdesivir, not only for the compound, but also for all of its use including coronavirus in regions around the world. But we will not get into a patent dispute, we will find a way to help patients, and of course, we will protect our intellectual property as a separate step of the process. But patients first.)
2月4日,中國科學院武漢病毒研究所在其官網上介紹了在抑制2019新型冠狀病毒藥物篩選方面取得重要進展,並稱從保護國家利益的角度出發,在1月21日申報了瑞德西韋的中國發明專利(抗2019新型冠狀病毒的用途),並將通過PCT(專利合作協定)途徑進入全球主要國家。
面對外界如潮質疑,中方人士稱中方申請的專利的權利範圍是瑞德西韋在抗新型冠狀病毒上的用途。中方人士還稱專利申請本來就是’跑馬圈地’,是在保護自己的利益。也是為了保護國家利益。
據稱中國如果擁有瑞德西韋藥物用途專利,其他的專利可以和國外公司進行交叉許可,這也是一種談判手法。
據悉武漢病毒研究所1月21日申報該專利,專利審批過程一般為一年左右,中文人士不諱言要先佔有專利申請的優先權。
推特上知名評論人士@lifttime視界就此痛批中共當局:印度政府以窮人看不起病為由,默認印度藥廠仿造進口藥,此事並未引起廣泛批評,因為畢竟救了很多窮人的命;中共比印度政府政府「不知道高到哪裡去了」,不僅政府直屬機構仿造美國藥,而且還把美國藥廠公開的分子結構拿去註冊成自己的專利,讓美國藥廠變成仿造者。論下限,這個世界無人能敵中共。