biotech

In this article, IAM examines the approaches taken by – and the issues facing – the leading companies in the race to find effective coronavirus inoculations.

On October 8, 2020, 4iP Council held a webinar to explore the relevance of IP for research for both public and private spheres. The speakers, Dr. Peter Oksen, Senior Program Officer of WIPO GREEN, and Prof. Koenraad Debackere, Executive Director of KU Leuven Research and Development, discussed the role of IP in technology transfer, the related legal context and its variations across Europe.

It has been announced today that the covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been found to be 90% effective in preventing the disease, without presenting any safety concerns in the first interim analysis from its Phase 3 clinical study. This puts it at the head of the pack of candidate vaccines in the race to achieve regulatory approval. But there are major IP obstacles for any organisation seeking to produce a copycat version; while Pfizer/BioNTech themselves are embroiled in a patent dispute over the vaccine. Read more.

Shiok Meat’s finished product possesses the texture of ground shrimp and has already been tested to make shumai, the Cantonese dim sum mainstay with the yellow dumpling wrapper. But its applications are potentially manifold in Chinese-centric cuisine. Eventually, the company aims to move beyond ground shrimp meat to produce crab, lobster, and a structured deshelled shrimp. Read more.

SalivaDirect™ is a new process developed at the Yale School of Public Health to test persons suspected of having COVID-19 for the virus, SARS-CoV-2. It is ideal for large-scale testing and offers a number of advantages over traditional testing methods.