Subject: Lawsuit Seeks to Strip Burroughs Wellcome Of AIDS Drug Patent
Date: Published: 3/20/91 (47 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology:
    Lawsuit Seeks to Strip
    Burroughs Wellcome
    Of AIDS Drug Patent

    WASHINGTON -- A group representing people with AIDS filed
 a civil suit seeking to strip Burroughs Wellcome Co. of a
 patent that gives the company exclusive rights to market AZT,
 the only drug approved to treat the acquired immune
 deficiency syndrome virus.
    The People With AIDS Health Group, which filed the lawsuit
 along with two AZT users, contends that Burroughs Wellcome
 didn't invent the drug.  The complaint, filed in federal
 district court here, asserts that government scientists at
 the National Institutes of Health conceived of the use of the
 compound for treating the AIDS virus and performed necessary
 experiments to develop it.  The compound was discovered by a
 Michigan scientist in 1964.  Burroughs Wellcome received its
 patent in early 1988.
    In a statement, Burroughs Wellcome President Philip Tracy
 said, "The idea that our company would engage in illegal
 activities to obtain patent rights is both offensive and
 wrong.  We fully expect to prevail in the lawsuit."  The
 company is a subsidiary of Wellcome PLC of Britain.
    The plaintiffs have been urging the U. S. government to
 join them in bringing suit against the company.  Yesterday,
 the acting director of the NIH, William Raub, said the
 government "is not a party" to the suit.
    But the government is clearly interested in laying claim
 to the development of the drug.  Dr. Raub said that for
 several months NIH officials and Burroughs Wellcome have been
 discussing who invented AZT.  "We believe that National Cancer
 Institute researchers should have been named as co-inventors
 on these patents," he said.
    The ultimate aim of the plaintiffs is to lower the price
 of AZT by allowing other companies to enter the market.  An
 NIH official said government officials also are concerned
 about the price of AZT.  

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