Infectious diseases. Polio outbreak raises questions about vaccine

A small cluster of polio cases in the Dominican Republic and Haiti marks both the first polio outbreak in the Western Hemisphere in more than 9 years and the first reliable report that a vaccine-derived polio strain may have reverted to a virulent form and spread contagiously. Although a massive vaccination campaign already in the works is expected to contain the outbreak, the unusual incident raises troubling questions about a vaccine that has been in widespread use for nearly 40 years.     

Intellectual property. Coauthorship and coinventorship

Although the accepted criteria used for inclusion as author or inventor are similar, the average number of authors in scientific articles is significantly higher than the number of inventors on the corresponding patents. This finding can be attributed to an artificial inflation of coauthors, to the exclusion of coinventors, or--more probably--to a mix of both causes. This article argues that the discrepancy between the numbers of coauthors and inventors can have significant legal consequences, as the exclusion of an inventor can render a U.S. patent invalid or seriously harm its value. A proposal aiming to avoid such consequences and taking into account legal as well as authorship credit considerations is described.     

Intellectual property. Enhanced: intellectual property landscape of the human genome

The impact of gene patents on downstream research and innovation are unknown, in part because of a lack of empirical data on the extent and nature of gene patenting. In this Policy Forum, the authors show that 20% of human gene DNA sequences are patented and that some genes are patented as many as 20 times. Unsurprisingly, genes associated with health and disease are more patented than the genome at large. The intellectual property rights for some genes can become highly fragmented between many owners, which suggests that downstream innovators may face considerable costs to gain access to gene-oriented technologies.