Imagine spending years developing a way to log patients’ vaccination statuses to develop vaccination plans and not managing to market anything during a global pandemic. Now imagine still being nowhere to be seen as people begin to discuss vaccine passports. Wellstat Vaccines is living that reality. In late March 2021, Wellstat Vaccines was issued a patent on a method it was researching for generating a vaccination plan based on a patient’s past vaccination and infection history. Essentially, the method could tell you which vaccines were most advisable and how likely they would be to be useful. We say “was researching” because, despite having been issued this most recent patent, there have been no signs of progress from Wellstat lately.
Wellstat has not filed for a patent on this technology since July of 2017 and has no open continuations of this patent. Given how narrow the claims are for this patent and given that there are only four of them, that is a bad sign for how interested Wellstat is in pursuing this technology further. Perhaps its abandonment of this project was also a trademark issue. In its patents, Wellstat repeatedly describes its technology as “ImmunoScore” and states “‘ImmunoScore’ is a trademark and/or service mark” envisioned to be used with the vaccination plan technology. However, a quick search reveals that Inserm had applied for Immunoscore® in connection with medical diagnostic instruments as early as 2012, with the mark now being used by HalioDx in connection with immune status storing for colon cancer patients. A further sign of Wellstat’s disinterest or inability to market its technology is its website, which appears to have been designed with 1990s web design principles. Abandonment of this project may have cost Wellstat, as it appears to have missed the perfect opportunity to insert itself into the growing conversation around vaccine passports.
The Lesson? Persevere because you never know when your inventions might be unexpectedly relevant. For more information about the winners and losers in the global health industry, check out our free Patent Forecast® for Pandemics.
