Freedom of Information request on the COVID-19 virus (FOI 22/704)
Published 22 March 2023
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FOI 22/704
27 May 2022
Dear
Thank you for your request under FOIA, as the questions asked are closely related we have combined these requests. As the questions do not pertain to documentation held, we have provided the below answers for the purposes of general information advice, because these questions do not fall within our remit.
Q. I understand the 1st patent on a corona virus was by the CDC in 1999..the patent is US 7279327 where the CDC claimed; ownership , detection and measurement of the virus. Furthermore on 25/04/2003 the CDC filed other patents US 46592703P US 7776521b1 US 7220852b1 In addition to these facts the CDC filed another patent in 2007 to keep it all confidential.
A. Please note it is not our remit to review patents from American Health Authorities such as the CDC, however, we have located the below article related to this subject, which may be of interest to you:
Q. Who is the owner of the corona virus. My research shows it was Patented by CDC.
A. See above.
Q. Is the virus alive?
A. This is an area of continuing scientific debate for all viruses, because viruses meet some but not all of the criteria to be regarded as living.
Q. Where did it come from?
A. This is outside of MHRA’s remit, however, the below article discusses this topic, the takeaway messages from this article are as follows.
“Most scientists say SARS-CoV-2 probably has a natural origin, and was transmitted from an animal to humans” and “Scientists don’t have enough evidence about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 to rule out the lab-leak hypothesis, or to prove the alternative — that the virus has a natural origin”.
Q. Was it designed?
A. See above.
Q. Are there patents on any of the vaccines?
A. intellectual property rights are maintained for certain aspects of the COVID-19 vaccines
Please note, if you are considering making further requests, firstly consider if MHRA is the correct agency to contact. MHRA regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK. Questions about the pandemic and SARS-CoV-2 in general are likely better aligned with the remits of UK Health Security Agency - GOV.UK (https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2F&data=05%7C01%7CMHRACustomerServices%40mhra.gov.uk%7C8e0a02fe517c49f366eb08da3fc98fa5%7Ce527ea5c62584cd2a27f8bd237ec4c26%7C0%7C0%7C637892432165109333%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GjnJaGwjYtZ4bwTlvWU34TNc1h9rd%2FeRZASe7LQBgtU%3D&reserved=0)
or Department of Health and Social Care - GOV.UK (https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2F&data=05%7C01%7CMHRACustomerServices%40mhra.gov.uk%7C8e0a02fe517c49f366eb08da3fc98fa5%7Ce527ea5c62584cd2a27f8bd237ec4c26%7C0%7C0%7C637892432165109333%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GjnJaGwjYtZ4bwTlvWU34TNc1h9rd%2FeRZASe7LQBgtU%3D&reserved=0)
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Yours sincerely
MHRA Customer Experience Centre