Stem Cell Patents Come Under Fire

MILWAUKEE -- A consumer group, a patent foundation and a stem cell scientist are challenging patents on human embryonic stem cells held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The Public Patent Foundation, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, and Jeanne Loring, a stem cell scientist at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California, claim that the patents hinder research, push scientists to pursue work overseas and represent a waste of taxpayer money.

"It's absolutely absurd that one person or organization could own the rights to life itself," said John Simpson, stem cell project director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, based in California.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation _ or WARF _ is the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin. University researcher Jamie Thomson first isolated embryonic stem cells in 1998.

WARF director Carl Gulbrandsen said he was confident the patents are valid, saying the challenge was motivated by politics and money.

"WARF stem cell patents do not inhibit research," he said. "They support and encourage it."

Simpson, Loring and others announced their...