Indonesia to stop sharing bird flu samples

JAKARTA, Feb 6 (Reuters) Indonesia will not be sharing its H5N1 bird flu virus samples with foreign laboratories, but will make its genetic data available for other experts, a health ministry spokeswoman today said.

Sharing of H5N1 samples is crucial as it allows experts to study the makeup of the virus, trace its evolution and the geographical spread of any particular strain. They are also used to prepare vaccines.

''We cannot share (virus) samples for free. There should be rules of the game for it,'' Lily Sulityowati told Reuters.

''Just imagine, they could research, use and patent the Indonesia strain. We cannot give the (virus) specimen, but we can share data in the gene bank,'' she added.

She was referring to a World Health Organisation (WHO) databank containing genetic data of the H5N1 virus made available by scientists studying the virus.

The gene bank is accessible to the WHO's network of influenza laboratories and other experts working in the field.

Her comments came after the Financial Times reported Indonesia has stopped sharing human genetic samples of the most deadly strain of bird flu with foreign laboratories to protect its intellectual property rights ahead of a planned vaccine tie-up with Baxter International.

Sulistyowati confirmed Indonesia would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Baxter tomorrow to develop a human bird flu vaccine.

''The vaccine is to prevent poultry-to-human infection. That's what we need for the current situation and not for the future pandemic,'' she said.

No comment was immediately available from Baxter.

A source familiar with the Indonesian situation said Jakarta's move not to share bird flu virus specimens was being discussed at the international level and that unhappiness was not only confined to Indonesian scientists.

An international agreement and protocol on the sharing of samples may have to be hammered out, the source said.

Last year, China complained that foreign scientists in WHO collaborating laboratories went ahead and published papers in prestigious scientific journals after receiving bird flu samples and genetic sequencing data in 2004 from Chinese scientists without giving them any recognition.

The spat was so serious that Beijing stopped sharing samples and only agreed to resume in December after WHO director-general Margaret Chan stepped in to resolve the matter.

Bird flu remains largely an animal disease, but it can kill people who have close contact with infected fowls. It has killed more than 160 people over the past four years, including 63 in Indonesia -- the most fatalities of any countries in the world.

REUTERS SY PM1913