Patents on gene sequences are granted all too readily, according to a discussion paper published by the UK's Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Instead, the paper suggests, patents involving DNA sequences should be 'the exception rather than the rule' and the legal tests that applications must be novel, inventive and useful should be much more rigorously applied.
In the past, isolating a gene was technically difficult and many patents have been granted on the basic that the process of isolating newly discovered genes is inventive. Today, however, a gene can be identified simply by referring to someone else's database. This should no longer be regarded as inventive, says the Council's report.
Even gene sequences used as diagnostic tests should not attract a patent. 'In the case of a diagnostic test, a patent on the use of the sequence may be acceptable, but the patent should be restricted to the particular test specified', said Professor Martin Bobrow, one of the paper's authors.
The Council is concerned that research and innovation might be stifled if patenting of gene sequences with no apparent therapeutic use is allowed to continue. Those carrying out research have to pay large license fees to the patent holder, thereby dissuading researchers from working on a particular sequence. 'We are concerned that, for patents involving DNA, the patent system is in danger of not achieving its main goal - to stimulate innovation for the public good', said Dr Sandy Thomas, director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
Sources and References
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Patenting DNA 'not in public interest'
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Call for tighter rules on DNA patents
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The ethics of patenting DNA
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