By P. Kandiah
Did you know that as early as 23 July 2014, patent applications on the coronavirus were already filed?
This patent was filed in the UK and subsequently, a corresponding patent was granted in the US on 20 November 2018 under patent grant no. US 10,130701 B2. The Patentee of the US Patent is The Pirbright Institute, a British research institute located in Woking, England.
The invention provides a live, attenuated coronavirus comprising a variant replicase gene encoding polyproteins comprising a mutation in one or more structural proteins.
Key Takeaways
- Coronavirus Vaccine Patents Were Filed Early – A live, attenuated coronavirus was patented by The Pirbright Institute in 2018, based on research that began as early as 2014.
- Global Protection Through the PCT – The invention was also filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), allowing for broader international patent coverage.
- Economic Potential Drove Innovation – Recognizing the commercial value, multiple institutions pursued similar research, sparking further vaccine development and related patent activity.
- British Research Led the Way – The inventors, all based in the UK, developed a novel approach to coronavirus vaccines years before the global outbreak.
- It’s Not the COVID-19 Virus – The patented virus is designed to treat infectious bronchitis in animals and is not related to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
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The coronavirus may be used as a vaccine for treating and/or preventing a disease such as infectious bronchitis. It is pertinent to point out that the coronavirus of this patent is not the current COVID-19 which is causing the global pandemic now. It is interesting to note that the inventors were already conducting research to produce a novel coronavirus before the year 2014. The inventors named in the patent are all British residents.
The invented (or man-made) coronavirus can be used as a vaccine for treating and/or preventing infectious bronchitis. The Pirbright Institute, realizing the economic importance of their invention, had filed an international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) under application number PCT/GB2015/052124.
Due to the economic potential of a vaccine for infectious bronchitis, several other researchers and research institutions are also simultaneously doing extensive research to develop a successful vaccine for the virus which cures bronchitis, as seen in the several journal articles and patent applications cited by the USPTO in Pirbright’s US Patent.
Let us hope at least one of the research institutions will soon be able to develop successful vaccine to prevent or treat the current novel COVID-19 virus infections.
Readers interested to see details of Pirbright’s US Patent can access it at this link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10130701B2/en