PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsUpdate to article: Fertility expert condemns 'outrageous' IVF cell cycle patent

BioNews

Update to article: Fertility expert condemns 'outrageous' IVF cell cycle patent

Published 3 June 2013 posted in News and appears in BioNews 707

Author

BioNews

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

A patent over a method for assessing cell-cycle data that can be used in IVF treatments to predict an embryo's future viability will make IVF treatments in the USA prohibitively expensive, a leading embryologist has said...

BioNews has made a number of changes to this article, which originally appeared in BioNews 707. The amended article can be read below.

A patent over a method for assessing cell-cycle data that can be used in IVF treatments to predict an embryo's future viability will make IVF treatments in the USA prohibitively expensive, a leading embryologist has said.

The patent, which was granted to Stanford University and exclusively licensed to biotech company Auxogyn, has attracted opposition from leading embryologist Professor Jacques Cohen, who offers IVF for military personnel at the ART Institute in Washington DC.

'Nature should not be owned by anyone', said Professor Cohen. Writing in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online, he said: 'Claiming aspects of natural processes in embryos as property is an outrageous attempt to over-commercialise every step of an already expensive medical procedure'.

Data obtained from thousands of images taken during the development of an early-stage embryo during IVF treatment can help doctors determine which embryo is most suitable for implantation. But Cohen says the patent covers a naturally occurring process of development in the first three cell cycles of an embryo and may not therefore be patentable.

Auxogyn disagrees, pointing to the language of the US patent which makes no claim to any aspect of nature but is 'a method for assessing the potential for developmental competence of a human embryo'. This patent has been granted by the US patent office with an equivalent granted by the European Patent Office.

The patenting of human genes or genetic information has attracted a great deal of attention in the United States and elsewhere. Supporters argue that patents are essential for innovation and securing investment into research, but opponents say it is unethical to patent natural substances and that patent protection could stifle research by requiring researchers to pay royalties to use patented material.

'The decisions being made in corporate and law offices to own bits of the natural development of embryos may thwart exciting developments', said Professor Cohen. 'Ultimately, this will come at the cost of clinical freedom and the choices patients make'.

'There will be no end to what corporations may claim to own. A few years ago it was the gene sequence, now it is embryonic growth. Next year it may be one's heartbeat or the synapse'.

According to Lissa Goldstein, CEO of Auxogyn, 'The patent system encourages medical research and ultimately benefits patients. By improving the chances of IVF succeeding, Auxogyn's Early Embryo Viability Assessment or "Eeva" test may decrease the number of IVF cycles needed and therefore may reduce the cost and stress of IVF.'

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is due to hear arguments on Myriad's patents over the BRCA1 and 2 gene mutations, which the company asserts cover 'isolated' DNA molecules that would not exist if they had not been removed from a chromosome, explains the New Statesman.

Sources and References

  • 25/05/2013
    Observer
    Leading scientist attacks university over 'outrageous' IVF treatment patent
  • 29/05/2013
    New Scientist
    Call for protest against IVF cell division patent
  • 26/05/2013
    New Statesman
    US medical company patents basic aspect of human physiology crucial to IVF treatment
  • 31/05/2013
    Reproductive BioMedicine Online
    Patenting time: a response to Professor Reijo Pera’s argument that the cell cycle of an embryo developing in vitro is not natural
  • 21/06/2011
    United States Patent 7,963,906 B2
    Imaging and evaluating embryos, oocytes, and stem cells

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
16 June 2014 • 2 minutes read

Time-lapse IVF embryo imaging tool cleared by FDA

by Dr Molly Godfrey

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a time-lapse imaging tool designed to improve the embryo selection in IVF for use in the USA....

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
29 April 2013 • 3 minutes read

Patenting parthenotes: High Court asks if parthenotes are 'human embryos' under the Biotech Directive

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

The UK's High Court has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to clarify if human parthenotes fall under the definition of a human embryo for the purposes of patentability...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
8 April 2013 • 2 minutes read

Companies hold patents on entire human genome

by Ruth Saunders

A new study has reported that the entire human genome may be under patents held by commercial companies....

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
18 February 2013 • 3 minutes read

Myriad Genetics wins gene patent bid in landmark Australian ruling

by Matthew Thomas

A patent over a gene linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancers is valid, an Australian federal court has ruled in a landmark case....

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
News
3 December 2012 • 1 minute read

German court upholds Brüstle patent as valid

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

The German Federal Court of Justice has ruled that a disputed patent held by Dr Oliver Brüstle, and the subject of a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against the patentability of human embryonic stem cells, is valid in its revised form....

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Stroke patients improve after stem cell treatment

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels


easyfundraising
amazon

This month in News

  • Popular
  • Recent
20 November 2023 • 3 minutes read

HFEA publishes recommendations for reform of fertility law

13 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Four BRCA mutation carriers undergo removal of ovaries during C-section 

13 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Frequent mobile phone use linked to lower sperm count in young men

6 November 2023 • 3 minutes read

Health Council of the Netherlands recommends doubling the 14-day limit on embryo research

30 October 2023 • 2 minutes read

Government to scrap additional IVF screening for same-sex couples

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Research into gene therapy reveals blood cancer risk

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Polish Parliament debates reinstatement of state IVF funding

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Over 100,000 DNA evidence samples must be re-tested in Australia

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Childhood autism associated with infertility in parents

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Unintended consequence of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing discovered

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2023 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2023 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856