HIV researchers were first surprised, then baffled, and finally outraged.
Human Genome Sciences (HGS), a company based in Rockville, Maryland, issued a
press release proudly proclaiming that it had been granted a patent “for a human
gene that produces what is believed to be the critical entry point for the AIDS
virus”.
But experts knew that the company wasn’t responsible for showing that the
product of this gene, CCR5, helps the AIDS virus to enter cells. In fact, HGS
applied for the patent in 1995—a year before several other groups
published pivotal experiments showing that HIV depends on CCR5.…
