Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zalika has reached an agreement with former Israeli State Veterinary Services and Animal Health director Prof. Zeev Treinin to develop and patent an AIDS drug. In exchange, the state will receive royalties from profits from the drug, if any. Treinin reached the agreement because he discovered the drug’s basic ingredient when he was a civil servant, which means that the state owns the intellectual property.
The agreement allows Treinin to raise money to finance research on the private market. He believes that he will need $1.5 million for the drug discovery, after which he can complete development and register a global patent.
Treinin’s attorney said that more than ten years previously, Treinin and his team had discovered a biological substance that has a positive effect on damaged immune system cells. Further research serendipitously discovered that the drug could cure rats infected with the AIDS virus.
Since the discovery, Treinin tried and failed to get the state to fund the research. He believes that the drug can be produced cheaply, even as it has the potential for generating billions of dollars in revenue.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 19, 2007
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