French Institute Sues U.S. Over AIDS Patent
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PARIS — France’s prestigious Pasteur Institute said today that it has filed suit against the U.S. government to prove French scientists were the first to discover the deadly AIDS virus.
Pasteur Institute Director Raymond Dedonder said the institute has been prevented from being granted a U.S. patent for the discovery of the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a fatal disease for which no cure has been found.
Dedonder said the institute sought a U.S. patent two years ago for its January, 1983, discovery of the AIDS virus “for reasons of scientific ethics and because of the enormous economic implications.”
Wants Profit From Test
He said the institute would like to profit from helping to perfect a standardized test to detect AIDS and wants to be sure it is guaranteed compensation on a cure, when and if one is found.
“We are pretty fed up with what has happened in the United States,” Dedonder said.
The Pasteur Institute, where movie star Rock Hudson sought treatment last July before his death in California in October, said the discovery of the virus represents a potential market worth $40 million in Europe and tens of millions of dollars in the United States.
Dedonder said the suit was filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Claims against the Department of Health and Human Services.
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