Opinion: Don’t let gene patents make a comeback
CNNEditor’s Note: Jorge Contreras is a professor at the University of Utah S.J. Patents are still available to protect biomedical innovations such as vaccines, drugs and test kits, but no one can claim ownership over the genetic sequences that exist within naturally occurring organisms. This legislation would once again have permitted the patenting of natural substances and genomic sequences such as the human BRCA genes, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and other natural products that are rightfully in the public domain. Recently, at the request of Senators Tillis, Coons and others, the Patent Office issued a request for public input on how current law has “impacted investment and innovation, particularly in critical technologies like … precision medicine, diagnostic methods, and pharmaceutical treatments.” This effort seems designed to create a public record of opposition to the Supreme Court’s ban on patents covering natural phenomena. Contrary to the pro-patenting narrative that’s likely to emerge, the patent laws were never intended to allow private companies to control the use of substances found within nature.
History of this topic
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With a Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver likely, time to rethink global intellectual property rules
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Al Jazeera
Mariana Mazzucato, Jayati Ghosh and Els Torreele on waiving covid patents
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Patents in hand, wealthiest nations have signed away opportunity to vaccinate the world
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