CSIRO ‘making enquiries’ into claims of dishonest dealings

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation says it is making enquiries into claims made in the media that it mis-sold technology to pharmaceutical firm Novartis.

On 11 April, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article saying the organisation “duped” Novartis by passing off commercially bought tracers as its own invention in a deal for technology to fight drug counterfeiting. CSIRO entered the deal in partnership with DataDot Technology. According to the article, the resulting DataTrace product that was sold to Novartis to help it protect its medicines from counterfeiting could be easily compromised.

CSIRO says it was not approached about the “substance of these claims” before the article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, and argued that the claims “do not relate solely, or even primarily, to CSIRO”.