Europe may be left without stem cells
Stem Cell Treatment Patents debate: What's at stake?
Dmitry Tselikov, Compulenta
The highest court in Europe is about to declare patents for stem cell treatment immoral and, therefore, illegal. The researchers warn that by doing so, the old lady's medicine will be thrown far back and will lag far behind China, Japan and the United States. There are several weeks left before the decision of the twelve judges of the European Court. It will immediately become mandatory for all EU countries.
New Scientist magazine has published a thorough catechism to help those who want to figure out what is at stake (Embryo patent row could dash Europe's stem cell future).
Who believes that stem cell patents are immoral, and who brought the case to court? The discussion was started by Greenpeace, which challenged the patent in 1999, the application for which was filed by the German scientist Oliver Brustle, now studying at the University of Bonn.
The patent described the process of obtaining the precursor cells of neurons, which he derived from human embryonic stem cells (CESCS). The specialist took these last ones from publicly available sources. Greenpeace claims that the patent violates the 1973 European Patent Convention, which prohibits patents for inventions "contrary to public order and morality."
Why is the court expected to side with Greenpeace? On March 10, the general counsel of the court, Yves Bot, announced a preliminary conclusion on the immorality of such patents.
Which patents exactly will this affect and why does the general counsel consider them immoral? We are talking about patents for treatment with the use of cESC.
To obtain them, the embryos must be destroyed. The European Patent Directive of 1998 prohibits "the use of human embryos for industrial and commercial purposes."
What happens if such patents are banned? All innovative stem cell therapies that have already been developed in Europe will go to the dusty shelf, warns a group of thirteen scientists who published an open letter in the journal Nature this week and organized a press conference in London.
Experts also object to accusations of immorality, because they seek to alleviate human suffering and, in the future, create methods for treating blindness, diabetes and many other degenerative diseases.
Is it impossible to continue working without a patent? Researchers say no.
Even when an important discovery has been made that can lead to new treatments, it cannot materialize unless pharmaceutical companies and other investors pay for turning it into a high-quality commercial product. If investments are not protected by patents, no one will risk money, because then unscrupulous imitators will start producing competing products without having to incur research costs and risk investments.
What kind of treatment methods will Europeans lose? The most advanced treatment can be called age-related macular degeneration (a type of blindness), which usually affects people over 65 years of age.
Pete Coffey and his colleagues at University College London (UK) are developing tiny patches, a millimeter or so across, consisting of a layer of support cells that nourish and support light-sensitive retinal cells. These support cells are made from cESC.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is financing the development and plans to start clinical trials next year. If the patents already issued turn out to be invalid, Pfizer will be powerless to prevent competitors from making the same patches without investing in development.
Is it immoral not to treat patients? That's what the researchers are talking about.
"Treating a person is an ethical necessity that everyone seems to have forgotten about in the heat of the discussion," Mr. Coffey said at a London press conference. Another signatory, Robin Lovell-Badge from the National Institute of Medical Research (UK), agrees: "We believe that the search for medicines is a moral imperative. It is unacceptable to discard it, arguing about the immorality of the CHESK."
Mr. Coffey also did not fail to remind that patents banned in Europe will be valid in the USA, China and Japan. "Do you want the Europeans to receive the treatment there that I could develop here?"
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru29.04.2011.