Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.
Just because it’s patented doesn’t mean it can’t still be released for the benefit of humanity. It does mean it will be harder for some for-profit entity to claim the process for themselves. This may be naive, but I feel like a public (state-owned) nonprofit research university will be a better steward for the patent than a private entity that’s seeking to maximize shareholder value. I would expect that they would either license the patent freely for humanitarian benefit or at a reasonable cost to support the university’s ongoing research efforts.
Just because it’s patented doesn’t mean it can’t still be released for the benefit of humanity. It does mean it will be harder for some for-profit entity to claim the process for themselves. This may be naive, but I feel like a public (state-owned) nonprofit research university will be a better steward for the patent than a private entity that’s seeking to maximize shareholder value. I would expect that they would either license the patent freely for humanitarian benefit or at a reasonable cost to support the university’s ongoing research efforts.