GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanour criminal charges in the US and pay $3 billion to settle. read more
A ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union stated that research processes involving stem cells produced from human embryos cannot be patented. read more
A group of leading stem cell scientists raised the alarm over a European Court of Justice case they say could block all development of embryonic-stem-cell-based therapies in Europe, following a statement from the Advocate General making recommendations that would amount to a ban on patents for embryonic stem cell related technologies.
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Biotech breakthroughs are transforming the worlds of health and agriculture offering the promise of drought resistant plants, new medicines and energy sources. Yet some feel that the current system of intellectual proerty rights is fundamentally flawed. A Montreal-based international team of experts in biotechnology, law, ethics and economics has released a new report which will be presented to UK policy makers and NGOs next week. Drawing on data collected over the past seven years, the study portrays a crucially important but increasingly dysfunctional industry that relies on a business model based on outdated conceptions of intellectual property. The lead author of the report came to the SMC to prevent its main findings. read more
Sir John Sulston, the Nobel prize-winning geneticist who lead the UK project to decode the human genome, has, together with bioethicist John Harris, established a new Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation. The new Institute will address issues surrounding the ethics and commercial treatment of science, and the role of science and innovation in society. John Sulston and John Harris came to the Science Media Centre to explain their current concerns about the commercialisation of science with a particular focus on issues like the use of patents in genetics and other areas of science. read more
The report published by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, recommends a number of significant changes to the way that DNA patents are granted, and proposed that patents involving DNA sequences be allowed only in exceptional circumstances. read more