Indonesia Stops Sharing Bird Flu Samples

According to this article, Indonesia will not be sharing its avian influenza virus samples with foreign laboratories. In order to protect its intellectual property rights, Indonesia has not shared any samples of its bird flu strain since the beginning of 2007. The country is declining to share bird flu virus strains due to the fact that it has not received compensation for vaccines that have been developed as a result of samples that it has shared. According to health ministry spokesperson Lily Sulistyowati, Indonesia “cannot share (virus) samples for free. There should be rules of the game for it.”

Although Indonesia will share information in the World Health Organization (WHO) databank containing genetic data of the avian flu virus, it will not share any actual virus samples with the databank. The country will, however, make its genetic data available for other experts. According to the article, Indonesia will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States company, Baxter International Inc., to develop a human bird flu vaccine.

According to a source familiar with the Indonesian situation, Indonesia’s decision to not share avian flu samples has caused discontent among scientists and could lead to the development of an international agreement and procedure on the sharing of samples.