Joshua Porter – Potluck 02/11/2020
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| Changes in European lab responses related to patent protection issues from 2008 to 2017 |
It’s been over 6 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ambiguously
banned the patenting of human genetic sequences. However, many European countries
continue to allow these types of patents and last year, a group of researchers published
a study about the effects of European genetic patenting on genetic testing.
Liddicoat et al. found that 17% of European labs in 2017 avoided genetic
testing due to patent protection, compared to only 8% in 2008. 14% of the non-profit sector labs were also
affected, compared to 4% in 2008.
Remarkably, Liddicoat et al. does not
suggest aligning European law with the United States, but rather, increasing
legal support to help labs navigate patent law carefully.
Liddicoat et al. reviewed some statistics about discontinuing
of genetic tests due to patents from countries outside of Europe as well. They
cited that in Australia in 2012, only 7% of labs were affected. However, in the
United States in 2001, 25% of labs discontinued tests and 53% did not develop
tests due to patent protection concerns. Liddicoat et al. argue that
since a low number of tests are affected and since reforming patent law can be
challenging and increase ambiguity that Europe should continue to permit genetic
patenting.
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