The Global mRNA Patent Frenzy
The Global mRNA Patent Frenzy Massive Multinational Investment in mRNA Technology Signifies Global Impetus to Find Viable Applications By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH I hear from time to time that someone claims to have “invented mRNA” so I found this paper by Li et al interesting. The authors used a series of search terms related to “mRNA vaccine” to search the titles, abstracts, and claims in the Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) for patents with a publication date prior to December 31, 2021. A total of 9,613 patent documents were collected to carry out the statistical analysis. Expired or lapsed patents from failure to pay patent maintenance fees were found to account for 13.49% of invalid patents and 6.04% of all patents. Over a period of 60 years, mRNA vaccine patent publication exhibited a rising trend as a whole: it entered a take–off stage in 1994, increasing from 15 patents filed in 1994 to 892 filings in 2021 (Figure 1a). Notably, a substantial increase was present sin...