Is the Patent Office Forcing Race into Biotechnology Patents?
By Jonathan Kahn, Biopolitical Times guest contributor
| 06. 14. 2011
A review of recent patent applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has uncovered a highly problematic new practice: PTO examiners are requiring applicants to include racial categories in the claims sections of some biotechnology patent submissions, where they provide the basis for subsequent research, development, and marketing of products developed from the patent.
In a recent article in Nature Biotechnology, I explore the general contours of this phenomenon, which first came to light in a December 2008 presentation by PTO Quality Assurance Specialist Kathleen Bragdon titled “A Look at Personalized Medicine.” Taking an example of a treatment for breast cancer, the presentation argued that in cases where effectiveness for all races was not established, “a scope of enablement rejection must be considered.” In other words, the patent could cover only those racial groups that had been included in the underlying study. The implication was that race must be considered a genetically salient factor in biotechnology patent applications.
The critical responses Bragdon’s presentation prompted could have led the PTO to reconsider the relevance...
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The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
