ABSTRACT
Patentable inventions may be made during the development of a vaccine, and patents on such inventions can help to protect the vaccine from competition. This chapter introduces several patent law concepts, including patent eligible subject matter, written description, enablement, novelty, and nonobviousness, by following a hypothetical vaccine development timeline that begins with the discovery of a previously unknown virus and ends with the commercial launch of a vaccine against the virus. Regulatory exclusivity, freedom to operate, and lifecycle management considerations are also discussed.
Subject(s)
Drug Discovery/legislation & jurisprudence , Inventions/legislation & jurisprudence , Patents as Topic , Pharmacy , Technology Transfer , Vaccines , Certification , Drug Discovery/economics , Inventions/economics , Social Control, FormalABSTRACT
Engrailed is a key transcriptional regulator in the nervous system and in the maintenance of developmental boundaries in Drosophila, and its vertebrate homologs regulate brain and limb development. Here, we show that the functions of both of the Hox cofactors Extradenticle and Homothorax play essential roles in repression by Engrailed. Mutations that remove either of them abrogate the ability of Engrailed to repress its target genes in embryos, both cofactors interact directly with Engrailed, and both stimulate repression by Engrailed in cultured cells. We suggest a model in which Engrailed, Extradenticle and Homothorax function as a complex to repress Engrailed target genes. These studies expand the functional requirements for extradenticle and homothorax beyond the Hox proteins to a larger family of non-Hox homeodomain proteins.
