sanofi-aventis, National Institutes of Health metabolic news

Fabry's disease patients and their family members sent a petition to NIH asking the agency to re-examine a request from last year for the agency to exercise its march in powers under the federal Bayh-Dole Act to grant an open license to two U.S. patents covering the production of Fabry's disease drug Fabrazyme agalsidase alfa from Genzyme Corp., which sanofi-aventis acquired last week. NIH declined the original petition because "years of clinical studies and regulatory approval" would be necessary before another agalsidase alfa product could reach the market, and would not solve the short-term supply shortage (see BioCentury, Dec. 13, 2010). ...