Patenting Parthenotes: High Court Asks if Parthenotes are 'Human Embryos' Under the Biotech Directive

The UK's High Court has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to clarify if human parthenotes fall under the definition of a human embryo under the Biotechnology Directive for the purposes of patentability .

The case concerns an appeal brought by International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCC) against a decision made by the UK's Intellectual Patent Office (IPO) in 2012 to reject two patent applications over a method for inducing pluripotent stem cells from human eggs that have undergone parthenogenesis.

The IPO's decision said: 'A parthenogenetically-stimulated human oocyte is considered, on the basis of the Brüstle judgment to be capable of commencing the process of development even if it is not able to complete this development'.

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