Tatiana Sampaio, a scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), claims that the international patent for polylaminin was lost due to the interruption of research funds at the university between 2015 and 2016.
According to Tatiana, the granting of the national patent took 18 years to be finalized, only occurring in 2025. As the total validity period is 20 years, there are only 2 years of exclusivity left for the scientist in the country. Foreign registration ceased to exist due to the lack of payment of mandatory fees, previously covered by the university.
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With the cut in funding, the scientist said, there was no more money to pay for international patents. “We lost everything, we only had the national one because I paid out of my pocket for 1 year”, he said in an interview with the TV 247 channel on YouTube.
The scientist reported that she even used her own resources to try to maintain the protection of the medicine, but was unable to avoid international loss. For her, the loss affects the recognition of national science and the entire team involved in the study for years.
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Understand what polylaminin is
Polylaminin consists of an improved synthetic version of the protein laminin, which is taken from human placentas. Its function is to be a kind of guide in cases of spinal cord injuries, promoting the union of nerve fibers that have been ruptured. The regeneration process in humans happens gradually over a few months.
The tests carried out showed significant results. In a group of eight patients with complete spinal cord injury (a condition with only a 10% probability of improvement), six returned to some movement after treatment and one of them was able to walk again.
Currently, the compound does not yet have official registration, which has led patients to seek authorization from the courts to act as clinical volunteers. In a recent advance, which took place on January 5, Anvisa released phase 1 of the clinical study. This step allows testing the safety of the substance through direct application to the injured area of five patients who have suffered recent trauma to the spinal cord.
