ABSTRACT

In late 2006 the world was on the brink of a catastrophic pandemic due to the avian influenza virus H5N1. It was essential to conduct genetic studies of new viral strains isolated from human cases and to get a head start on vaccine development for those strains that appeared to have the highest pandemic potential. This chapter provides special attention to issues of ownership, specifically ownership of biological materials and derivatives; and with it, rights to the products of that ownership. These issues and their relationship to access, possession, and economic exploitation of knowledge can serve as an analytic frame or entry point to understand the events that precipitated Indonesia’s decision to suspend sharing of H5N1 isolates with the global system in early 2007. The international media reaction to Indonesia’s decision to withhold viral isolates was intense, polarized, and revealing.