[Pharm-policy] Justin Gillis on a dizzying web of patent problems

[James Love]

Thanks to Martin Frid for pointing out this story regarding patents on
Rice.  One interesting issue is that the technology is covered by "a
dizzying web of patent problems --  as many as 32 companies and
institutiions hold 70 patents that cover technologies used in the
creation of golden rice."   I think this is a very good illustration of
why compulsory licensing will be a very important tool to promote
development of new high technology biotechnology inventions, when the
intellectual property rights issues present "blocking" problems.  

 Jamie

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33142-2000Aug3.html

Monsanto Offers Patent Waiver 
Justin Gillis   Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August    4, 2000; Page A01

Monsanto Co. said last night that it would give away certain patent
rights to speed use of a genetically modified rice that could save
millions of malnourished children in poor countries from dying or going
blind.

   [snip]

Monsanto's patents are by no means the only barrier to producing golden
rice, but they are a major one. The company's offer, announced at an
agricultural conference in India, was welcomed by Ingo Potrykus, the
emeritus professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland
who used technology owned by Monsanto and others to invent golden rice.
He has been crusading to get the product accepted around the world.

"I am grateful for this offer, which I certainly will accept," Potrykus
said last night from his home in Magden, Switzerland. "I consider the
Monsanto offer important because I can now use this case to tell other
companies, 'Look, Monsanto is giving me a free license. Won't you do the
same?' It's an important first example."

Potrykus's goal is to distribute golden rice free to peasant farmers in
all poor countries where rice is grown. Rice, Oryza sativa, is the
staple food for half the human population, and growing it is the single
most important economic activity in the world. Potrykus, with support
from other scientists, the Swiss government and the Rockefeller
Foundation in New York, developed golden rice specifically to make a
large dent in malnutrition.

But then he found himself embroiled in a dizzying web of patent problems
- as many as 32 companies and institutions hold 70 patents that cover
technologies used in the creation of golden rice. Like other academic
scientists, Potrykus was allowed to use patented technology in his
research without fear of being sued. That's a common practice. But
releasing the rice into international commerce is a more serious step,
one more likely to raise objections from patent holders.

If the rice were intended for sale Potrykus could simply negotiate
licenses to the patents, but that would likely make it far too expensive
to give away in poor countries.

Under pressure to demonstrate that agricultural biotechnology is more
than just a vehicle for raising corporate profits in rich countries,
companies lately have been falling into line behind golden rice.
AstraZeneca PLC of London negotiated a deal to give Potrykus patent
rights for use in poor countries in exchange for the right to sell
golden rice to farmers in wealthy countries. But Monsanto, now a wholly
owned unit of Pharmacia Corp., is the first big company to waive its
rights unconditionally.

It was unclear last night how many of the 70 patents Monsanto holds, but
a single one of them, on a key genetic sequence that Potrykus used in
his work, might well have been sufficient to block production. If
potential patent disputes and related issues are resolved, Potrykus
said, breeding stocks of the rice could be sent to agricultural
institutes around the world later this year. They would cross it with
varieties adapted to local conditions, and golden rice could be planted
in paddies by 2004.

   [snip]

=======================================================
James Love, Director           | http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology | mailto:love@cptech.org 
P.O. Box 19367                 | voice: 1.202.387.8030
Washington, DC 20036           | fax:   1.202.234.5176
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