this is why there is a wait...taking out Herald sun"How the...

this is why there is a wait...
taking out Herald sun
"How the scientist won and lost her case"

WHAT have they done to poor Veronica James?

The discoverer of a breast cancer test being developed by listed biotech Fermiscan and which is set to save millions of women's lives was too choked up to speak to BNW.

The recipient of an Order of Australia award for her extraordinary work with hundreds of deaf children was too scared to talk.

The respected scientist whose work has not been able to be replicated anywhere in the world with the same success was struggling to control the quiver in her voice.

Professor James would not discuss anything with BNW even though she scored a legal victory in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.

That day, in a judgment that took two-and-a half hours to read to the court, Justice Robert McDougall dismissed Fermiscan's case against Prof James and ordered that the company pay her legal costs.

The case took up five days and was the second time Fermiscan had used legal action against the scientist, whose original technology interprets patterns in sophisticated Xray images of hair samples to show molecular changes in patients with breast cancer.

Thrown out of court last week were Fermiscans claims that Prof James' later inventions involving skin and nail tests were owned by them as "improvements" on her original hair diagnostic test.

The first time the company took legal action against the inventor was in 2006, when it obtained a search order authorising a no-warning raid of Prof James home to seize all her documents over an alleged patent infringement dispute.

Following the raid, the company reached a settlement with the scientist in which she undertook not to disparage Fermiscans related companies.

However, when Prof James sought to publish her new study, the company claimed she had breached the settlement terms and that it owned the new inventions.

Her lawyer Jane Owen, of Middletons, told BNW this. Prof James would not tell BNW anything.

"Every time I hear a car pull up outside, I worry it's going to be another subpoena. I just couldn't go on if I had to go to court one more time. Please don't ask me any questions," the shaken professor whispered.

So, this is what they have done to Professor James - they have gagged her. The tactics Fermiscan has used against a distinguished scientist are a disgrace.

The rest of the biotech sector should condemn the way this talented researcher, who gave away her life's work in the hope of saving others lives, has been treated.

Every self-respecting person working in the life sciences sector who values peer review of scientific discoveries has a responsibility to make sure the case concluded by Justice McDougall is the final chapter in this saga.

Prof James was to join Fermiscan in 2004 as a consultant after exchanging her technology for the cost of her patent. But it was a mostly idle relationship.

When she left in 2006, she took her research in a different direction, developing a way to test for a number of cancers by examining skin and nail samples.

Earlier this year, she signalled her intention to patent her new discovery, only to be slapped with a writ.

Each time BNW has called Fermiscan, chief executive David Young has been too busy to talk. A call to Fermiscan's founder and current corporate strategist, Leon Carr, also was not returned.

You remember Leon? The investment banker linked with the now defunct Medicine Quantale.

Well, now Leon has another company called Rellcain and it recently agreed to sell a 19.9 per cent stake in Fermiscan to Polartechnics.

Also a women's health diagnostic biotech, Polartechnics has launched a takeover of Fermiscan.

Polartechnics chief executive Ben Dillon, who surprisingly was willing to talk to BNW, said the adverse finding against Fermiscan did not automatically rule out the merger, but he would wait to read the full judgment before making a call.

Yep, BNW is also looking forward to reading the detailed judgment, which should be available from the court transcribers this week.