PROFESSOR SUES OVER PATENT FOR WIDELY USED DRUG HE TESTED

A professor at Chiba University on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Astellas Pharma Inc. demanding the company acknowledge him as one of the inventors of a drug used around the world in organ transplants. Although global sales of the drug, called tacrolimus or Prograf, reached 122.9 billion yen in fiscal 2004, Takenori Ochiai, 63, is not seeking money in his lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court. He said he wants recognition for the series of experiments he conducted 20 years ago to verify the validity of the drug. In addition, if Ochiai's name is listed on the patent, it could increase the budget for his national university.

Asahi Shimbun

(http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200509010307.html)