基因专利之争 你的健康谁做主？

　　

生物通报道，基因专利已经不再是件新鲜事，基因专利意味着暴利、专断，当我们人类的基因被粗暴的贴上专利的标签时，人类的健康权慢慢的被剥夺了。多数科学家表示对基因专利申请的担忧。

 

随着基因检测技术的进步，申请人类基因专利变得越来越流行，基因专利是商家牟利的最佳手段。

 

据Physorg网站报道，美国专利商标局（USPTO）已同意至少4382种人类基因专利，包括癌症、肌肉萎缩、阿尔茨海默病等其他重症相关的基因。

 

美国民权联盟（American Civil Liberties Union）的一位律师表示，20%的人类基因目前已经申请专利。他上个月刚参与一项诉讼案，关于乳腺癌和卵巢癌检测基因的诉讼案。每项基因专利赋予其申请者独占权长达20年，对这一基因的医学研究、诊断或治疗具有独占权。

 

该诉讼案中，被告Myriad Genetics（一家制药厂）和University of Utah Research Foundation拥有BRCA-1和BRCA-2两基因的专利权，这是两个与乳腺癌和卵巢癌相关的基因。原告是American College of Medical Genetics、College of American Pathologists和其他研究机构以及病人。

 

由于基因专利的限制，研究者无法对这些基因进行研究并开发相关的诊断或治疗技术，这也使得这些疾病基因的研究在专利期间将严重滞后，这对患者来说并不合理。不少的公司申请专利后并没有专注于以基因专利为基础开发诊断或治疗产品，反而在赚取授权费。

 

专利意在保护发明者，而非存在于大自然的事物，例如人类身上的基因。

 

美国国会和NIH等机构发表了一些调查报告，众议院和参议院正在考虑对专利法进行改革，并举行听证会，如果通过，那将是专利法50年来首次发生重大变革。

（生物通  小茜）

关注更多：Patenting human genes thwarts research, scientists say

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patents to at least 4,382 human genes, including genes related to Alzheimer's, asthma, cancer, muscular dystrophy and other serious diseases.

"Twenty percent of the human genes are currently patented," said Christopher Hansen, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a suit last month challenging six patents on two genes that are connected to tests for breast and ovarian cancer.

A gene patent gives its owner the exclusive right, for up to 20 years, to control its use for medical research, diagnosis or treatment.

"A gene patent holder has the right to prevent anyone from studying, testing or even looking at a gene," the ACLU lawsuit protests. "As a result, scientific research and genetic testing has been delayed, limited or even shut down due to concerns about gene patents."

Patent holders reply that they have a constitutionally guaranteed right to protect their inventions in order to pay the heavy costs of genetic research and development.

Though gene patents are lawful, many scientists, health professionals and patients' organizations object that the patents are stifling research and interfering with patient care.

"Patents are meant to protect inventions, not things that exist in nature like genes in the human body," Hansen said.

"Questionable patents are too easily obtained and are too difficult to challenge," the Senate Committee on the Judiciary declared last month. "An industry has developed in which firms use patents not as a basis for producing and selling goods but, instead, primarily for obtaining license fees."

 

The patent war is being waged on several fronts.

Congress is weighing legislation that would make it easier to challenge patents. The National Institutes of Health released a 136-page draft report on the problem this spring. The National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Trade Commission have held multiple hearings.

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The ACLU suit was filed in federal district court in Manhattan on behalf of the American College of Medical Genetics, the College of American Pathologists, other research organizations and individual patients. The defendants are Myriad Genetics, a pharmaceutical firm in Salt Lake City, and the University of Utah Research Foundation, which sponsored the research.

The patents give Myriad Genetics the exclusive right to test women for mutations in two genes, known as BRCA-1 and BRCA-2, which may indicate a genetic susceptibility to breast or ovarian cancer. A woman who tests positive might decide to have her breasts or ovaries removed.

"The effect of the patents has been to stifle clinical practice and research on the genetic predisposition to breast and/or ovarian cancer," the ACLU said. "The public, and in particular women, have suffered unnecessarily