AEGiS-WSJ: Cambridge BioScience Seeks to Patent Tests On Likely AIDS Virus

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1984. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Cambridge BioScience Seeks to Patent Tests On Likely AIDS Virus

Wall Street Journal - April 26, 1984
Bob Davis, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

HOPKINTON, Mass. -- Cambridge BioScience Corp. said it filed patent applications in 17 countries outside the U. S. for methods and products to detect Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus, or HTLV, which this week was identified as the probable cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Cambridge BioScience said it filed a patent application in the U. S. last year on the diagnostic tests. Other companies are likely either to try to patent their own HTLV diagnostic methods or to challenge any patent granted Cambridge BioScience.

"It's a horse race," said Gerald Buck, president and chief executive officer.

As reported, government scientists identified the third member of the HTLV group, called HTLV-III, as the probable cause of AIDS. Earlier this month, a group of French researchers also reported they had isolated the AIDS virus, which they called lymphadepopathy-associated virus. Many U. S. scientists believe that is another name for HTLV-III.

The potential market for a diagnostic test is vast because such a test could be used to diagnose AIDS patients and also screen blood donors. AIDS is a collapse of the body's immune system that leaves victims unable to fight off certain types of rare cancers, pneumonia and other fatal diseases. Its incidence is particularly high in homosexual men, Haitian immigrants, and drug addicts and can be transmitted to people who have received transfusions of blood donated by people with AIDS.

The market potential is likely to attract competitors. For example, Abbott Laboratories, a leader in hepatitis diagnostic tests, has said it is studying diagnostic tests for AIDS, but wouldn't comment on whether it plans to market a test.

Cambridge BioScience said it is developing its diagnostic tests through gene-splicing techniques and other methods, for a range of HTLV strains, including types I, II and III.

But Henry Weinert, president of Boston Biomedical Consultants Inc., doubted the company would be granted patents because other researchers may have developed a method to identify HTLV III before Cambridge BioScince.

Cambridge BioScience's Mr. Buck said he didn't know of any similar patent applications in Europe, where the company has applied for a patent.

Also, as reported, Margaret Heckler, secretary of Health and Human Services, said Monday that the Public Health Service had filed a patent application on an AIDS diagnostic test developed by Dr. Robert Gallo, chief of tumor cell biology at the National Cancer Institute. What effect Cambridge's move will have on the government's application isn't clear.

Cambridge BioScience said it expected to make its test available to research laboratories by early 1985. It also expects to apply to the Food and Drug Administration this year for approval of the test for clinical use. If the FDA approves, Mr. Buck said, the company would begin to market the tests sometime next year.

Cambridge BioScience said it is negotiating license agreements with several large companies that it wouldn't specify to market the diagnostic tests.

In addition, the company said it is developing a vaccine for a leukemia virus that affects cats, and that Cambridge BioScience believes may be applicable to a vaccine for HTLV.

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