Intellectual Property Landscape of the Human Genome

The impact of gene patents on downstream research and innovation are unknown, in part because of a lack of empirical data on the extent and nature of gene patenting. In this Policy Forum, the authors show that 20% of human gene DNA sequences are patented and that some genes are patented as many as 2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 310; no. 5746; pp. 239 - 240
Main Authors Jensen, Kyle, Murray, Fiona
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington American Association for the Advancement of Science 14.10.2005
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Subjects
Analysis
Biotechnology
Cancer
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Genes
Genetic research
Genomes
Genomics
Herfindahl Hirschman index
Human genome
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property law
Nucleotide sequences
Obesity
Ownership
Policy Forums
Policy making
rev genes
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Summary:The impact of gene patents on downstream research and innovation are unknown, in part because of a lack of empirical data on the extent and nature of gene patenting. In this Policy Forum, the authors show that 20% of human gene DNA sequences are patented and that some genes are patented as many as 20 times. Unsurprisingly, genes associated with health and disease are more patented than the genome at large. The intellectual property rights for some genes can become highly fragmented between many owners, which suggests that downstream innovators may face considerable costs to gain access to gene-oriented technologies.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1120014