intellectual property

You pose a very interesting question, and the answer is, I'm sorry to say, you have nothing. Medicine is a very strange science. In fact, science in general is plagued by a phenomenon called "irreproducible results." Even if it could somehow be proven that this medication cured your incurable condition, the drug company would have to perform tests on thousands of people (and animals) with your incurable condition to see whether it could cure them too. After maybe 10 or 20 years of clinical trials with consistent results, the FDA "might" approve the use of this drug for your incurable condition.

In laboratories all around the world, amazing results are sometimes found during a test. The problem is, they can't make it happen again. In 1989, two scientists claimed that they had discovered "cold fusion" -- a nuclear reaction that takes place at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. If such a thing could happen, it would mean that mankind could produce unlimited electricity at very little cost. Several governments did research to investigate the claim, because there was some evidence that it might work. Japan spent $20 million over 5 years, and finally announced in 1997 that it couldn't be done.

Hardly a day goes by when somebody does not discover a "new" use for a product that is already on the market. These discoveries make the product more popular. Good examples are Avon's "Skin So Soft," a moisturizer that was found to be the most effective mosquito repellent available; WD-40; and Vaseline. The people who discovered the many new uses for these products do not get compensated.

If, in fact, this blood pressure drug cured your incurable illness, your doctor (or you) can report it to the drug company. They will put your report into their file of "anecdotal evidence" about other effects of their drug. If someone at the drug company collects enough stories like yours, they might start doing some research. But that's about it.

A final thought: prescription drugs are strictly controlled. Even if another doctor thought that this in drug might help others with your disease, he would not be allowed to prescribe it for that purpose. Doctors are not permitted to prescribe drugs for purpose other than the ones they are approved for.

While I generally agree with the prior answer, physicians can and do prescribe medications for what are known as "off label" uses that have not been formally evaluated and approved by the FDA. While a physician, in doing so, runs the risk that his or her conduct may not meet applicable standards of care, this practice is relatively commonplace in certain areas, such as oncology. The discovery that a blood pressure medication also tended to grow hair for many patients, as a famous example, led the patent holder to seek approval for the drug to be marketed for additional uses. Turning to your question, drug development is an incredibly expensive and intense process, as the prior answer suggests. The applicable statutory provisions for domestic patents appear in the 1952 Patent Act, codified as amended at 35 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq, which provides that ‘‘[w]hoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.’’ This definition is not as simple in application as its language would suggest. There are three basic standards for patentability codified at 35 U.S.C. Sections 101—03: utility, novelty, and non-obviousness. To obtain a patent, an inventor must file a patent application with the U.S. PTO for examination, an expensive process called "patent prosecution." In particular, Title 35 U.S.C. Section 112 provides, in relevant part: "The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the
art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention .. . ." In short, this is not the kind of thing that a non-lawyer can likely accomplish.

Tonight (August 31, 2008) the 60 Minutes tv show reported that Ambien, a sleeping pill, had been found to awaken certain patients from long-term comas.

If you are confident that you have discovered a new use for a known substance, there is nothing to prevent you from writing a technical description of the discovery and filing it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a provisional patent application. The description would need to include a disclosure that is so complete that it will enable someone of ordinary skill in the field to make and use the invention. And, according to the courts, it would need to include a "written description" of the subject matter of the invention. You would need to be sufficiently clear in your own mind about the invention that you are deemed to be in "possession" of its subject matter. In that event, it would be appropriate to obtain assistance from a patent attorney in generating such a document.