Mahidol's Ebola treatment to be patented shortly
Thailand's Intellectual Property Department will register a patent for an antibody treatment for the deadly Ebola disease internationally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
Department director general Malee Choklumlerd said Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, which developed the vaccine, had asked for the antibody treatment to be registered.
Malee said registering it with the Patent Cooperation Treaty meant it should be protected worldwide.
Thailand signed up to the treaty in September 2012.
Under the treaty, Thai inventors can register their patents quickly, cheaply and with wider protection. The treaty permits the filing of a |single application for a patent |covering more than one country. The process identifies the patent application to be considered in a large |number of countries within a specified period.
However, Malee said the procedure for registering the patent would take at least 30 days to several months for advertising and checking.
The move follows the announcement on October 3 by Mahidol’s Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital that it had achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of the deadly Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever, with potential for commercial distribution within one year from now. This has increased the world’s hope of combating the deadly disease that has already claimed thousands of lives in Africa this year.
