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SACGHS on Patents and Patients : The Relationship between Gene Patents and Genetic Testing

By Andis Kaulins

Dan Vorhaus at the Genomic Law Report in SACGHS Chair: Put Patients Before Patents writes:

"This afternoon, the journal Genetics in Medicine released an online-only supplement analyzing the relationship between gene patents and genetic testing. The bulk of the issue is devoted to a series of 8 case studies surrounding 10 clinical conditions...."

James Evans, Editor-in-Chief of Genetics in Medicine and chair of the SACGHS (Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society) wrote an accompanying editorial:

"Evans? editorial ? ?Putting patients before patents? ? presents a clear indication of how he believes the patent case study data should be applied. When it comes to patents, Evans argues, ?the rules are somewhat different for health-related entities than they are for more commodities such as consumer electronics.? The SACGHS recommendations reflect this conclusion and, according to Evans, ?seek to strike a balance, allowing the patent incentive to work in areas where it might be necessary (e.g., therapuetics) but disallowing it where it is not needed and may well be doing more harm than good, such as in the case of diagnostics.?"

Read the full posting here.

Full post as published by LawPundit on April 19, 2010 (boomark / email).