Genetics and Health

Chinese Scientists Filing Gene Patents

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on January 9th, 2006

As of October 2005, over four thousand (almost 20 per cent) of known human genes had been patented. This week, Chinese scientists announced that they’ve claimed intellectual property rights for nearly 100 human functional genes. This compares to the more than 2,760 gene patents held by Incyte Pharmaceuticals/Incyte Genomics.

In 1999, Celera said they would follow through on patenting no more than 100 to 300 genes out of the 6,500 whole or partial human genes they had preliminary patents on. Seven years later, they probably own more patents than the Chinese.

Anyone from Celera care to tell us the latest?

Shanghai Daily, January 9, 2006

Technorati Tags: genetics, health, gene+patents, patents, china, chinese, celera, incyte

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POSTED IN: Genetics and the Law