Hepatitis C historical perspective
Historical Perspective
In the mid 1970s, Harvey J. Alter, Chief of the Infectious Disease Section in the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A and B viruses. Despite this discovery, international research effort to identify the virus, initially called non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH), failed for the next decade. In 1987, Michael Houghton, Qui-Lim Choo, and George Kuo at Chiron Corporation utilized molecular cloning to identify the unknown organism. In 1988, the virus was confirmed by Alter by verifying its presence in a panel of NANBH specimens. In April of 1989, the discovery of the virus, re-named hepatitis C virus (HCV), was published in two articles in the journal Science.
Dr. D.W. Bradley filed suit against Chiron, challenging the status of U.S. patent 5,350,671 covering HCV clones, diagnostics, and vaccines. Dr. Bradley sought to invalidate the patent, have himself included as a co-inventor, and receive damages and royalty income from Chiron. Dr. Bradley claimed he supplied Chiron with HCV-infected plasma that was instrumental in Chiron's isolation and cloning of HCV, that he developed critical findings about the virus, and that he provided Chiron with assistance regarding cloning methods. Dr. Bradley began work on what was then called non-A, non-B hepatitis in 1977 and the dispute between Dr. Bradley and Chiron can be traced back to 1986 when the parties failed to agree on terms for Dr. Bradley to provide infected plasma to Chiron. [1][2][3][4]
References
- ↑ Chiron Corporation Chiron Hepatitis C Research Honored with 2000 Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research Press release, 18 September 2000.
- ↑ Choo Q, Kuo G, Weiner A, Overby L, Bradley D, Houghton M (1989). "Isolation of a cDNA clone derived from a blood-borne non-A, non-B viral hepatitis genome". Science. 244 (4902): 359–62. PMID 2523562.
- ↑ Kuo G, Choo Q, Alter H, Gitnick G, Redeker A, Purcell R, Miyamura T, Dienstag J, Alter M, Stevens C (1989). "An assay for circulating antibodies to a major etiologic virus of human non-A, non-B hepatitis". Science. 244 (4902): 362–4. PMID 2496467.
- ↑ Houghton, M., Q.-L. Choo, and G. Kuo. NANBV Diagnostics and Vaccines. European Patent No. EP-0-3 18-216-A1. European Patent Office (filed 18 November 1988, published 31 May 1989).