Via Al-Jazeera, excerpt :
" Saudi Arabia has accused a laboratory in the Netherlands of slowing down the development of a treatment for the MERS coronavirus that has so far killed 38 people.
The respiratory virus, which originated in the Middle spreads easily between people and appears appears more deadly than SARS according to doctors.
Saudi Arabia has said on Thursday that last year virologist Dr Ali Mohamad Zaki sent a sample to the Netherlands' Erasmus University.
The academic institution then identified the virus and applied for a patent on its genetic sequence before sharing the information and samples with other labs, under the condition it would retain rights on any discoveries.
The work done by Erasmus University was essential in the understanding and tracking of any virus, and ultimately in developing a vaccine, to which the university would also hold the rights.
With the number of cases increasing in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia raised questions over whether the public good was being put first and the Saudi government made its own sequencing of the virus public.
Saudi Arabia’s deputy health minister told delegates at the World Health Assembly that under international law his country has sovereign rights to the virus."
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