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Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

arstechnica.com

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Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#11

Post by DomreiRoam »

pjc50 wrote: post #9
DomreiRoam wrote: post #8

I think this press [1] release of the institut curie gives a lot of information. other press release can be find here [2]. [1] http://www.institut-curie.org/sites/default/files/myriad-gen... [2] http://www.institut-curie.org/press-release/by-type/377

That's dated 2008?

Yes but at this time the institut who is specialized in cancer had done lots of research and was very against the privatization of the public research and that the researcher couldn't research further because of this patent.

The Curie institut reacted to the patent as a research institution, here we have the impact on a practical health issue.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#12

Post by kybernetyk »

onewaystreet wrote: post #3

> This is a result that will have major practical consequences, and is likely to save thousands of lives. No, companies will stop doing research now.

>No, companies will stop doing research now.

That's what I'm worried about, too.

For example C60 [1] is a curious molecule that can't be patented anymore. In a rat study it showed to prolong the rats' lives by over 90% [2] by protecting the rats from cancer.

Sadly there won't be any human study anytime soon (if at all) because it's just not financially viable without the possibility of patenting the stuff and extracting fantasy prices for it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene

[2] http://www.kurzweilai.net/fullerene-c60-administration-doubl...

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#13

Post by kybernetyk »

298219640 wrote: post #4
onewaystreet wrote: post #3

> This is a result that will have major practical consequences, and is likely to save thousands of lives. No, companies will stop doing research now.

If companies stop doing research then the research can be done by universities or similar institutes.

Yes, but no university can afford to take the research results, make a cure from it and bring it to market. The regulatory overhead literally devours billions of dollars to get a new medicine approved.

And if a company can not expect to have some exclusive rights on that for at least a few years no one is going to spend that money. Competitors could just take your medicine, copy it and sell for lower because they had no upfront costs of getting it approved.

The economics behind pharmaceuticals are perverted - but at least they work.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#16

Post by ekianjo »

mirimir wrote: post #10

Now, if we can just agree that natural products and traditional cures can't be patented. India has been fighting hard for that.

If we could kill patents altogether that would be a much nicer step. Patents are an invention from another Era and make absolutely no sense nowadays, and we see them constantly abused to make our lives worse in the end.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#17

Post by shoo »

eru wrote: post #15
hliyan wrote: post #6

It's good to see a rational decision with regards to science coming out of Australia. Aussies have been getting too much bad rap due to the Abbot government.

We just tossed Abbott. Let's see if that helps.

He wasn't tossed, his party threw him out. We still have to wear the shame of collectively permitting those bastards to be voted in to federal government. They're still there.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#18

Post by Cyph0n »

ekianjo wrote: post #16
mirimir wrote: post #10

Now, if we can just agree that natural products and traditional cures can't be patented. India has been fighting hard for that.

If we could kill patents altogether that would be a much nicer step. Patents are an invention from another Era and make absolutely no sense nowadays, and we see them constantly abused to make our lives worse in the end.

No it wouldn't. Talented people would have little incentive to create something new.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#19

Post by JulianMorrison »

ekianjo wrote: post #16
mirimir wrote: post #10

Now, if we can just agree that natural products and traditional cures can't be patented. India has been fighting hard for that.

If we could kill patents altogether that would be a much nicer step. Patents are an invention from another Era and make absolutely no sense nowadays, and we see them constantly abused to make our lives worse in the end.

I don't think they made any sense from the get go, not even in the steam age.

In general, the first implementation of a good idea was a bad one, of limited use, not a well refined concept. And then the patent-holder sat on the patent until it expired, and then - finally - the whatever-it-was became a vital and widely used commodity as creativity started to be applied.

So all it did was slow the pace of change.

Re: Gene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision

#20

Post by noir_lord »

Cyph0n wrote: post #18
ekianjo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we could kill patents altogether that would be a much nicer step. Patents are an invention from another Era and make absolutely no sense nowadays, and we see them constantly abused to make our lives worse in the end.

No it wouldn't. Talented people would have little incentive to create something new.

Talented people created things for thousands of years before patents.
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