Topical issues
This page contains information about issues that are currently the subject of public debate and/or media interest. The current topic is...
Ethics of DNA Patenting
Presentations
and articles by OPPE staff
"Patents on Human
DNA - Patently Right or Wrong?"
Notes from a presentation by
Prof Wayne Hall, Director, Office of Public Policy and Ethics, IMB
To download the presentation
slides click here
To download the paper
presented click here
Useful
links
The Nuffield
Council on Bioethics (UK), an independent body established
to consider the ethical issues arising from developments in medicine and
biology, has issued a Discussion Paper (1) on the ethics of patenting
DNA.
http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/patentingdna/index.asp.
Dr Sandy Thomas, Director of the Nuffield Council,
and senior fellow at the SPRU University of Sussex, has published a commentary
(2) on the issue in last December’s issue of Nature Biotechnology,
available online at http://www.nature.com/nbt/.
(Choose Advanced Search and use the search engine to find volume 20, first
page 1185.)
The Australian Law Reform Commission has released
an Issues Paper (3) as the first stage in a major inquiry into intellectual
property rights and practices covering genetic materials and related technologies.
(See especially sections beginning 12.25 for discussion of Myriad and
Genetic Technologies (GTG) licensing agreements, excerpt below.)
Myriad has granted an exclusive licence in Australia and New Zealand relating to predictive genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer to Australian biotech company Genetic Technologies Corporation Pty Ltd (GTG). GTG has stated publicly that the rights it has obtained from Myriad for breast cancer susceptibility testing will not be enforced against other service providers in Australia and New Zealand. However, in March 2003, GTG advised public sector laboratories in Australia and New Zealand that they would need to negotiate licences in relation to its gene patents on non-coding DNA polymorphisms. GTG has claimed that these patents may be infringed by medical genetic testing for a range of genetic conditions, including cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Friedreich’s ataxia, fragile X syndrome, haemophilia, myotonic dystrophy and prothrombin (Factor II).
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/issues/27/index.html
To read the claims made in the GTG patent filed by Malcolm
Simons (4), see the full text at the US Patent Office, http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-bool.html
(Search by title or patent number: Genomic mapping method by direct haplotyping
using intron sequence analysis, United States Patent No. 5,851,762)
The programme Four Corners on ABC TV covered the GTG patent
controversy on 11 August (5); read the transcript, interviews,
and other materials at http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2003/20030811_patent/default.htm
The 8 May issue of Nature published a story on the GTG controversy filed by Sydney correspondent Carina Dennis (6). Available online to UQ staff and students at http://www.nature.com/ (choose Advanced Search and use the search engine to find volume 423, first page 105.)
The 18 August issue of the Medical Journal of Australia
contains several articles on human gene patents and public access to genetic
health services by Dianne Nicol (7), Ian Walpole (8), and John Mattick
(9), Director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University
of Queensland. These articles are available at
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/179_04_180803/contents_180803.html
Dr. Dianne Nicol is a member of the advisory committee for the ALRC inquiry Gene Patenting and Human Health as well as the research group at the Centre for Law and Genetics based at the Schools of Law at the Universities of Tasmania and Melbourne. See the Centre’s web site at http://lawgenecentre.org/
Dr Matthew Rimmer, Lecturer in Law at the Australian
National University, was a recent visitor to the Office of Public Policy
and Ethics and led the IMB Seminar Myriad Genetics: Patent Law And
Genetic Testing. See his recent editorial in the August issue of
Australasian Science, available on the web to UQ staff and students via
the Library Catalogue (title search for ‘Australasian Science’;
follow the links to volume 24, issue 7, August 2003). For Dr Rimmer’s
other publications in this area, see his page at http://law.anu.edu.au/scripts/StaffDetails.asp?StaffID=238
Bibliography
1. Nuffield Council on Bioethics. The ethics of patenting DNA: a discussion paper. London: Nuffield Council on Bioethics; 2002.
2. Thomas SM. Shares in the human genome—the future of patenting DNA. Nature Biotechnology 2002; 20(12):1185-1188.
3. Australian Law Reform Commission. Intellectual Property Rights over Genetic Materials and Genetic and Related Technologies. Sydney: ALRC; 2003.
4. Simons MJ, inventor. Genomic mapping method by direct haplotyping using intron sequence analysis. USA patent 5,851,762. 1998 December 22.
5. Holmes J. Four Corners: Patently a problem. ABC TV; aired 11 August 2003.
6. Dennis C. Geneticists question fees for use of patented 'junk' DNA. Nature 2003;423:105.
7. Nicol D. Editorial: Human gene patents: under whose control? MJA 2003;179(4):181-182.
8. Walpole IR, et al. Viewpoint: Human gene patents: the possible impacts on genetic services healthcare. MJA 2003;179(4):203-205.
9. Mattick JS. The New Genetics: the human genome and the future of medicine. MJA 2003;179(4):212-216.
Previous topics
Embryonic stem cells and cloning
Reproductive cloning of humans
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Last updated:30 October
2003