November 01, 2007

Scientist: Glaxo Credit for Malaria Vaccine Misplaced

One of the scientists behind Glaxo's experimental malaria vaccine wrote a comment to my GoozNews post from last month that lauded the company's efforts. I thought it worth highlighting, since it illustrates the theme of my book (that government research is behind most medical advances), and properly chastises me for not doing my homework:

I am disappointed in your assertion that "There's no quarreling with the assertion that this Glaxo effort to develop a much-needed malaria vaccine -- an effort, by the way, that has bedeviled scientists for decades because of the complexity of the parasite -- ought to receive a multi-billion-dollar reward if it succeeds." You seem to think that Glaxo has pulled this out of the thin air after poor bedeviled scientists had failed miserably. Actually work by us bedeviled scientists has been going on for more than 40 years with the support of taxpayer money from the NIH, USAID and Dept. of Defense. The first immunization study was " Nussenzweig, R., J. P. Vanderberg, H. Most and C. Orton. 1967. Protective immunity produced by the injection of X-irradiated sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei. Nature 216: 160-162". I later discovered the antibody (CSP antibody) that led to the identification of the CS protein, which is the very basis of the Glaxo vaccine (Vanderberg, J. P., R. Nussenzweig and H. Most. 1969. Protective immunity produced by the injection of X-irradiated sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei. V. In vitro effects of immune serum on sporozoites. Mil. Med. (Suppl.) 134: 1183-1190.) And I later led the efforts that used malaria sporozoites for the first successful vaccination of a human against malaria (Clyde, D., H. Most, V. McCarthy and J. P. Vanderberg. 1973. Immunization of man against sporozoite-induced falciparum malaria. Am. J. Med. Sci. 266: 169-177.). I am glad that Glaxo is now coming to the aid of us poor bedeviled scientists. There are things in basic research that scientists are able to do and there are vaccine production things that can be done only by a large corporation such as Glaxo. But please give a break to the poor bedeviled scientists (me and many others) who spent their entire professional lives doing the groundwork for a vaccine and then find that you are crediting Glaxo and insulting us. By the way, I believe that it is immoral for scientists who have had their work supported by taxpayers profit personally from a vaccine that they helped to develop but I believe that I am in a minority on this subject.

Dr. Jerome Vanderberg

New York University
Posted by gooznews at November 1, 2007 05:39 AM
Comments

Way to go, Joe! But where's the whine?

I see so many economists/pharma-shareholders state that without the incentive of blockbuster-status rewards, scientific researchers would no longer be willing to search for cures and treatments for many of the ills of the world. WRONG! The mind of the scientifically curious would continue to seek answers because--that is what they do . . . that is what drives them. If Banting, or Fleming, or Salk had halted research because there were no big bucks waiting for them in the wings, where would we be today?

As a lowly taxpayer, I am tired of the excuse that Big Pharma MUST have Big Rewards because their research is so costly. You point out that much of the underlying research is funded by taxpayers . . . whose ultimate "reward" may lie in paying ever increasing prices for drugs that our dollars helped "discover."

Thank you for your ongoing exploration of medical/scientific questions, and for shining the light, however briefly, on the role the unrewarded taxpayer plays in medical/scientific advancements.

Posted by: Melody at November 1, 2007 08:14 AM

Bravo to Dr Vanderberg, re his comments about the ethics of deriving personal (economic) benefit for scientific work done to further the public health. Along those lines, I'd like to remind everyone of Jonas Salk's wonderful response when he was asked about patenting his polio vaccine -- he said the vaccine belonged to the American people, and concluded "I might as well patent the sun."

Posted by: JR Hoffman at November 3, 2007 12:07 PM