Taiwan News: "Gilead Sciences, the firm which developed Tamiflu, has agreed to release the patent on the anti-viral medicine and has commissioned Roche Holding AG, Tamiflu\'s rights holder, to handle all transactions." There has been a lot of talk from various governments for a while now about declaring a national emergency in response to a possible outbreak of avian flu and breaking the Tamiflu patent...
Time has an article suggesting the release of the patent was a direct result of this: " Roche probably had no choice. Most countries, including the U.S., have in their laws a provision that permits their governments to overturn patents in exceptional circumstances. "If Roche plays hardball," says Redpath, "governments could just say, 'we're going to overturn the patent. This is a national emergency.'"
Whatever the reason, it's probably a good thing. True, there isn't really enough evidence to say that Tamiflu will protect against an avian flu pandemic, but it does indicate that IP rights are not yet totally in the hands of corporations...
Comments