Argentinian invention wins first edition of Latin American patent contest

By Estudio Chaloupka

A team of Argentine researchers from the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA) won the first prize in the 1st Invention Patent Contest of Prosur. It was through the discovery of a set of flame nano-antibodies capable of neutralizing different rotavirus variants, a discovery that was was patented in 2017 at the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and therefore received Prosur’s award for the best invention that has been patented in the last five years in Latin America. As part of the recognition, the researchers will participate in the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from April 10 to 14, 2019.

Prosur is a program created in 2010 that involves 14 countries and aims at facilitating and optimizing processes related to industrial property, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship in the region. It has become an international reference in cooperation on IP matters and its 1st Invention Patent Contest looks to further strengthen countries cooperation and promote innovation throughout the region.

"We discovered nano-antibodies capable of neutralizing the viral infection that causes
rotaviruses, the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children”, said Viviana Parreño, head of INTA's Diarrheic Virus Laboratory. “It is a finding patented in 2017, which today takes Latin American relevance due to the recognition of Prosur”, she added.

Germán Linzer, manager of Intellectual Property Management at INTA, highlighted the national importance of protecting the intellectual property of public institutional developments. "This protection allows to attract investments and stimulate scientific, technological and productive developments that contribute to local, Latin American and global productive development," he said.