On 15DEC17, Dr. James Sheehy, Chief Technology Officer for the Naval Aviation Enterprise, wrote a letter to Phillip J. Bonzell, Primary Patent Examiner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, requesting immediate action concerning a denied patent application by a certain Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais, an aerospace engineer at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. Dr. Sheehy anecdotally explained his case to Mr. Bonzell, relating how [Howard] Hughes in the early 1960’s claimed the invention of the “ruby laser”, when factually the United States Army at Picatinny Arsenal built the first such device in 1958. The negligence of not seeking a patent for the invention cost the Department of Defense dearly.

The letter concludes with the marginally cloaked implication of United States’ National Security being severely jeopardized by the then current application’s rejection. Dr. Sheehy supported his position stating: ”Based on these initial findings [Dr. Pais’ supporting feasibility experiments] I would assert this will become a reality. China is already investing significantly in this area and I would prefer we hold the patent as opposed to paying forever more to use this revolutionary technology…”

U. S. Patent Application 15/141,270 (PAX205)/B64G1/409 Unconventional spacecraft propulsion systems Patent Number 10,144,532, Granted 4DEC18, Adjusted Expiration 28SEP36

What can we learn from this? 1) The history of the Ruby Laser needs to be rewritten, wikipedia and anything about the laser does not acknowledge what is being claimed here.

2) The Navy has to use an example from 1958/1960 to avoid any issue but still make the point... "just like this other time we didn't patent what we built and therefor it was a mistake... we should patent this new technology... that we haven't made... but in case we did make it like the Ruby Laser, then let's patent it.

Convalescent plasma not efficacious in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17, 2021, from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12-convalescent-plasma-efficacious-hospitalized-covid-.html

Lee, J. W., Su, Y., Baloni, P., Chen, D., Pavlovitch-Bedzyk, A. J., Yuan, D., Duvvuri, V. R., Ng, R. H., Choi, J., Xie, J., Zhang, R., Murray, K., Kornilov, S., Smith, B., Magis, A. T., Hoon, D. S. B., Hadlock, J. J., Goldman, J. D., Price, N. D., … Heath, J. R. (2021). Integrated analysis of plasma and single immune cells uncovers metabolic changes in individuals with COVID-19. Nature Biotechnology, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01020-4

The RECOVERY trial in Oxford, with 5795 patients who were randomly allocated to receive convalescent plasma treatment and 5763 who received usual care alone, found that there was no statistically significant difference for 28-day mortality (24% for both groups, p-0.93) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital within 28 days (66% CP vs 67% control, p=0.50) for the two groups. Additonally for patients without mechanical ventilation, there was no stastically significant difference in the intubation rate (28% CP vs 29% control, p=0.79).

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.09.21252736

The trial showed convalescent plasma therapy had no benefit to patients with COVID-19. As a result the UK's health service has stopped collecting convalescent plasma from patients who had recovered from COVID-19.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55681051

Additonally the NIH have halted a convalescent plasma trial for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms stating that the "study shows that the treatment is safe, but provides no signifcant benefit in this group".

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-halts-trial-covid-19-convalescent-plasma-emergency-department-patients-mild-symptoms

Nature Editorial. (2020, October 23). The race to make COVID antibody therapies cheaper and more potent. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02965-3?utm_source=twt_nnc&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=naturenews&sf239165668=1&error=cookies_not_supported&code=2b2dd7c6-d01f-4057-8389-3be656a7ba58

Emily. J. Miller. - FDA {@FDASpox} (2020) Convalescent plasma has shown to be beneficial for 35% of patients. This risk reduction figure - shown in chart below - is from @MayoClinic data from expanded access program that was analyzed by FDAA for the emergency use authorization announced today. Twitter. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/FDASpox/status/1297706985039835136

The New York Times (2020) C.D.C. Halts Evictions, Citing Covid-19 Risks. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/world/covid-19-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-26bc7ab3

Ferreira, L. M. R., & Mostajo-Radji, M. A. (2020). Plasma-based COVID-19 treatments in low- and middle-income nations pose a high risk of an HIV epidemic [Preprint]. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/cyqx8

Kominers, S. D., Pathak, P. A., Sönmez, T., & Ünver, M. U. (2020). Paying It Backward and Forward: Expanding Access to Convalescent Plasma Therapy Through Market Design (Working Paper No. 27143; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27143

Vaughan, A. (n.d.). Which covid-19 treatments work and how close are we to getting more? New Scientist. Retrieved 31 July 2020, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250176-which-covid-19-treatments-work-and-how-close-are-we-to-getting-more/

Sun, J., Zhuang, Z., Zheng, J., Li, K., Wong, R. L.-Y., Liu, D., Huang, J., He, J., Zhu, A., Zhao, J., Li, X., Xi, Y., Chen, R., Alshukairi, A. N., Chen, Z., Zhang, Z., Chen, C., Huang, X., Li, F., … Zhao, J. (2020). Generation of a Broadly Useful Model for COVID-19 Pathogenesis, Vaccination, and Treatment. Cell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.010

Robbiani, D. F., Gaebler, C., Muecksch, F., Lorenzi, J. C. C., Wang, Z., Cho, A., Agudelo, M., Barnes, C. O., Gazumyan, A., Finkin, S., Hagglof, T., Oliveira, T. Y., Viant, C., Hurley, A., Hoffmann, H.-H., Millard, K. G., Kost, R. G., Cipolla, M., Gordon, K., … Nussenzweig, M. C. (2020). Convergent Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Convalescent Individuals [Preprint]. Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.13.092619