Hope you didn’t blink the other week or you may have missed the fact that they have mapped the HIV genome. It was in the journal Nature, on the BBC News and on Medical News Today website, among others. It’s great news as it opens up all sorts of health benefits. My worry is that it may not be great news for everyone, and the point is that the public does not know who owns the information and, therefore, does not know who can benefit or at what cost.

I don’t want to rehash the arguments around the mapping of the human genome. What worries me is that I have not easily been able to find out who owns the map. Just like the human genome, this is important and valuable information. The coverage on the BBC said nothing on this matter; the press offices of UNAIDS and WHO had nothing to say on the matter of either the genome or the intellectual property (IP) aspects. Emails to Kevin Weeks, the lead researcher and correspondence contact, have brought no responses so far either.

The problem is that they clearly don’t think IP issues are important to anyone. All that debating around the role of IP in medical innovation; IP and the human genome; the WHO-mandated Public health, innovation and intellectual property rights report; and the policies and calls for guidelines, seem to have failed to make the jump from policy to implementation. It’s not surprising when no one seems to be yelling for the information.

In an ideal world, part of the original article in Nature would have told readers who owns the information, and the ownership of the knowledge would be one of the first issues addressed by scientific reviewers and the media. When the story did not include this information, there should have been a storm of protest about the fact that we don’t now whose information it is.

To separate science from knowledge ownership is not only dangerous but irresponsible. In the same way as separating policy and advice from communications means disaster because there will be no implementation. I wonder how many scientists and researchers really understand IP issues in relation to knowledge and innovation?

It is not as if the IP rights behind genome mapping have not been discussed before at high levels and in the medical and science media. But I have a sinking feeling that little has been learnt from the lengthy WHO reports because there has not been very much communication.

HIV and AIDS is high in the minds of development and medical experts and even, and perhaps most importantly, in the minds of the public. Here is a very real issue with real potential for real people. Here is an issue that people would have cared about and through caring begin to understand and take part in the policy debate. And it was missed.

Obviously, someone needs to rethink the communications of IP and health issues or its going to be a case of “nice policy; shame about the implementation”. And implementation adores a deafening silence.