Gene patents vital to biotech industry: IPTA

If the Federal Government places a ban on the patenting of genes or other biological materials it could result in the collapse of the Australian biotechnology industry, said a panel of experts gathered by the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) in Sydney today.

According to the panel, a ban on gene patenting would bring to a halt a great deal of medical research and would result in a catastrophic withdrawal of investment by the corporate sector.

According to Dr Tania Obranovich, patent attorney and former research scientist, allowing genes to be the subject of patents will not stifle research or prevent beneficial therapies to reach the general public. Allowing biological materials to be protected under patent law will encourage private investment in bringing therapies to market, she said.

Products such as the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, would never have been made available to the public were not its key components - including genes from the human papillomavirus - protected by patent law, said Obranovich.

Dr Trevor Davies, patent attorney and fellow at IPTA, said the submission made to the Senate Inquiry by the Cancer Council Australia that all biological materials should be exempt from patenting could prove devastating to the Australian biotechnology industry, forcing Australian researchers overseas to conduct - and protect - their research.

The panel also addressed the concern that gene patents will stifle scientific research, with Obranovich stating that there is no empirical evidence that any Australian researchers had been hindered by concerns over patent protections.

However, one per cent of American scientists reported that their research activities had been impeded by patents, according to Obranovich.

Andrew Christie, Professor of intellectual property at the University of Melbourne, suggested a tightening of the provisions explicitly allowing material protected by patents to be freely used for research, both pure and research intended for future commercialisation.

Christie also stressed that beyond the arguments over the practical and economic consequences of allowing gene patenting there was also an argument made by members of the public and the scientific community along "moral/non-economic" lines. However, these arguments don't stand up to deep scrutiny, said Christie.

The Senate Community Affairs Committee is currently conducting an Inquiry into Gene Patents that will be directly assessing these issues.

The Inquiry followed the announcement last year by Genetic Technologies Limited (GTG) that it would enforce its patent rights on diagnostic tests for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes. GTG since announced that it would not pursue its rights and allowed diagnostic tests to continue.

The Inquiry received 72 submissions from scientists, institutions and members of the public, including many critical of the notion of patenting genes and biological material.

The Inquiry will be presented to the Senate before the last sitting on November 26.