Federal Government Upholds Wisconsin Stem Cell Patent
The US Patent and Trademark Office has ruled one of three human embryonic stem cell patents currently held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is valid.
The agency made the ruling in response to a series of challenges and appeals filed by WARF and the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR). Decisions regarding WARF’s two other embryonic stem cell patents are still pending.
The WARF and FTCR groups have been arguing the validity of patents obtained in 1998 and 2001 on embryonic stem cell discoveries made by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist James Thomson.
WARF, who holds the patents on embryonic stem cells themselves plus the techniques Thomson used to isolate them, has aggressively defended the patents because royalties generated from them will fund additional research at the university.
FTCR says the patents are hampering medical research in the United States. WARF requires researchers to obtain licenses prior to using the patented discoveries, but offers the licenses free to academic researchers. Additionally, FTCR maintains the patents are invalid because they’re too broad in scope and previous research on mice and other animals made the human embryonic stem cell techniques “obvious” by the time the patents were obtained.
WARF is praising the government’s decision while FTCR pledges to continue the fight against the patents. As one of the parties involved said,
“The battle is hardly over. We’re in this for the long haul.”
John M. Simpson
FTCR
Embryonic stems cells are utilized in cancer research and other medical studies because of their ability to turn into any type of cell in the body. WARF’s stem cell affiliate reports it has shipped the cells to more than 550 scientists around the world.
If you’d like to learn more about cancer research being conducted in the US and 152 other countries (with or without human embryonic stem cells), you can visit the ClinicalTrials.gov web site.
Source: Associated Press Article from The Washington Post
Related Links: CNN; University of Wisconsin-Madison News; The Public Patent Foundation; The New York Times
Related Podcast: What Makes a Stem Cell a Stem Cell? from NPR
Technorati Tags: US Department of Commerce; patent infringement; oncology; science ethics
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