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Gene Patenting
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of genetic research. Biotech companies are patenting individual genes as they discover them, giving them exclusive rights to further research, and a financial stake in the shelf product.
Biological patents are nothing new. For years, companies have been allowed to patent genetically manipulated animals and crops. "How can natural life be patented? It's a difficult concept' Mr Win Hyde; SA national Bio-formatics Institute...Particularly if we look at it from the perspective that it is something which is a part of you, something that is becoming owned by a company. If you look at it another way, everything is natural and so there is a deep controversy about this particular issue". Translating genetic data into medicines is an expensive business. The average drug costs around three hundred million dollars to bring to market. Companies want patents to protect their investment. But how can anyone patent life? Critics argue that since genes occur naturally in nature, it's unethical for a company to claim ownership of them. The companies' argument is that the DNA sequences they identify are purified versions of those that occur in nature - products of their own ingenuity and patent offices agree. Gene patenting is here to stay. In order to patent a gene, the company that discovers it has to identify a sequence of nucleic acids that make up the DNA. They must also show that this sequence is unique and that it has a particular utility "Gene Patenting is like any other object that you are patenting, say's Tania Broveak from the University of Cape Town, "There are 3 basic criterias, they call them the three U's - a patent needs to be, Unique, Useful and Unobvious". The big problem is that once a company owns genetic information, it can licence that information to another company on its own terms. Critics say this inhibits co-operation among laboratories and limits the availability of data to researchers. Rosemary Wolson at UCT Intellectual Property Manager explains, "One of the dangers in licensing agreements, that a company licenses technology which might be a competitor to their own existing technology and with such, they will want to bury it rather than use it".
Win Hyde continues, "What happens if somebody finds something that is going to fundamentally change our ability to protect ourselves from a disease, if it is patented and stored away for twenty years surely that is going to affect longevity and our ability to be successful. This has led to an amazing race and right now we are in a tremendous and exciting time, we are at the stage where commercial companies are fighting neck and neck with the American government to finish the sequence of the human gene and patent as much of it as possible.
Ideally, But it's the Genome companies who have the power. Their share prices are outperforming the entire biotechnology sector. In a market system, there's no place for philanthropy. As Karl Marx pointed out, it's sometimes difficult to see the wood for the trees! Greater knowledge should translate into better general health, but somehow an intermediate term has crept in: money Our healers have become businessmen. How did this happen? Perhaps our mothers were right all along and we still don't know what's good for us. Contacts
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Few people have not heard of Karl Marx. One of his key insights still has merit today - capitalism focuses primarily on making products or services, not for the good they can do for society, but for what profit their manufacturers can get out of them.
Gene patents are good business.
At the root of the debate, is the age-old question of financial reward. Genome companies claim that without patents, the profits from new medicines will not be spread equitably - the researchers who did the donkeywork will lose out while a few opportunists cash in.
governments should regulate gene research, ensuring broad access to basic discoveries.