AS MUCH as an eighth of the human genome could be patented in one go. Last
week British company Oxford GlycoSciences announced that it had filed for
patents on 4000 human proteins and the genes that code for them.
They’re all proteins linked with illness, spotted by comparing healthy and
diseased tissue. “We think it’s the biggest group of disease-specific proteins
anyone’s ever filed for,” says Michael Kranda, chief executive officer at OGS.
The entire human genome only contains an estimated 30,000 genes.
Opponents of gene patenting are appalled. “It’s pretty shocking,” says Helen
Wallace of the British lobby…
