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Researchers file a patent application for a cell line from the Hagahai tribe of Papua, New Guinea.

1991

The Story of The Patenting of Life
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The cell line for a human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) comes from newly-contacted Indigenous people in Papua, New Guinea.

According to Riordan (1995): "The strain found in the Hagahai is benign, and researchers hope that it might lead to a new leukemia treatment or a better diagnostic test for the virus."

The National Institutes for Health (NIH) supports researchers in collecting the DNA and securing a patent for it. The Hagahai tribe had previously avoided settler contact until 1984. Around the globe, Indigenous groups denounce this research as biopiracy.

NIH will abandon the patent in 1996, but the cell lines remain available for $26 through the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).