Genes Released from Patenting

The New York Times reported today that the US Department of Justice has declared that genes are not patentable, reversing a decades-long trend.

In the past, scientists have argued that the human manipulation that isolated a gene through chemical means made it a man-made substance, able to be patented. But regardless of the method being used to detect the gene, it is the gene itself being detected, not a new material, and so such discovery should be made available to all.

If this ruling stands, it will have application in the field of tick-borne illness. This year, Benjamin Luft at SUNY/Stony Brook has announced the genome mapping of 13 strains of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial cause of Lyme disease, with many more to be published soon. If the genes become public domain, many different research organizations can freely use the genes to work on treatments. The impetus for doing such research will still exist at the level of patenting new drugs and treatment modalities.

The role of patents, copyrights, and trademarks is to encourage the development of new and helpful products through a profit motive, not to reward such work with a monopoly, which is what gene patenting was doing. I hope that this new ruling will be upheld, and that researchers will take advantage of the opportunity to develop effective treatments for many illnesses, including Lyme disease.