Hi Mike,
Below is the quote from the article written about these two doctors last June.
Quote:
Most people assume that the Carruthers’ discovery of Botox made them rich. Jean was interested in patenting their idea, but Alastair was not. When he trained in the U.K., he says, “we learned that if you have an idea you give it away.” Jean prevailed, and they consulted a Toronto patent lawyer. He advised them, incorrectly, that it wasn’t patentable. Allergan marketed Botox, and today no one holds the patent, as it’s in the public domain.
These days, Alastair has changed his mind about patenting discoveries, but neither Carruthers seems to spend much time regretting a lost fortune. True, their income has risen significantly now that they are concentrating on cosmetic medicine: they live in Shaughnessy and travel widely, to visit their sons, to bicycle in the Basque country, to see the ruins in Turkey. Alastair says that after 30 years of doing what he calls “straight medicine,” he’s paid his dues: “I gave society back what it gave me in education. If I’d started out doing cosmetic medicine right after medical school, I’d feel less proud.”
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It was quite a few months back that I had read this so I didn't recall all the the details about the patent. It appears that the loss of the patent rights ultimately boiled down to incorrect legal advice.
Here is a link to the full article if you are interested.
http://www.vanmag.com/News_and_Featu...eep?page=0%2C0
Thanks very much for bringing this small but highly interesting study to our attention.
MsL