So, patents on human genes should be all
disallowed, right?
After
all, they are products of nature... Now that we can
construct our own genes,
I'd grant that is another thing
entirely, maybe.
It is essential
that you distinguish between the actual gene
and process it get the gene
sequence (or just if it has a
specific sequence). I do not know of any actual
patents on
the gene alone except for transgenic animal patents like the
first
OncoMouse in 1988. Further, as specific cutoff date,
any human gene specific
patents have to be filed before the start of the Human
Genome project circa
1990 (as that was when the raw sequence
was being released rather than the
official announcement in
2001).
What Myriad and others have done is patent
the process to
check the spelling of a specific gene that is related
to
some condition. These so-called gene
patents are more on the
association between the sequence
and some condition. Thus, if you have this
specific pattern
then you could run as fast as Usain Bolt. Note that
apparently a variant of myostatin gives speed in whippets
(dog breed) and
thoroughbred racehorses (also lack of
this the gene is responsible for
double muscling in cattle).
After all, the actual association between a
specific
sequence and a condition is really a scientific fact
(maybe
proven to be wrong in the future) and, thus, can not
be patented. Up until the
Mayo v Prometheus ruling, the
Courts have failed to separate specific sequence
identification from generic procedures refined since the
1960's. So
effectively you should be
able to get a valid patent to test if the word
realize appeared in
a document or not. Then get another patent for the
word
realise, another patent to get the word
release, and so on.
(These words
are chosen since most mutations change letters rather than
delete
or insert letters).
Hopefully this will change with Mayo v Prometheus
ruling
so that those gene patents are a just a simple collection of
established
techniques and facts that are not greater than sum of the
whole. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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