Equally, but not fairly
The US court finally stopped the patent war between the creators of CRISPR
Yulia Krasilnikova, Hi-tech+
The U.S. Court of Appeals recognized two competing groups of scientists as equal creators of genetic editing technology. Both teams can independently dispose of their developments and sell the rights to use them. And not everyone is happy with this.
The CRISPR genetic editing technology was first introduced by researchers from the University of California Berkeley (USA) in 2012. Jennifer Dudna and Emmanuel Charpentier immediately filed a patent application in which they described the principle of operation of "molecular scissors". They can be used to edit RNA and small sections of DNA in bacteria and other small organisms.
While the application was being considered by the US Patent Office, another group of researchers joined the development of CRISPR. Biochemists from the Broad Institute, led by Feng Zhang, have learned how to use the technique to edit eukaryotic cells – more complex living organisms, which include plants and animals, including mammals.
Although formally Dudna and Charpentier were the first, their application was approved only in 2018. The discovery of researchers from the Broad Institute was approved earlier – in 2017. It was this discrepancy that caused the litigation, which lasted more than a year and a half. The discoverers of CRISPR believe that biochemists from Broad borrowed their work, which means that the patent was issued illegally. However, after the initial consideration of the case, the court decided that both applications have the right to exist.
As explained by Quartz, the first discovery describes the application of technology in a test tube, and the second – in living organisms. Moreover, earlier, a researcher from the first team, Jennifer Dudna, argued that a technique designed for experiments on bacteria cannot be used to edit more complex organisms.
The court's decision was made in February 2017, but Dudna and Charpentier appealed the ruling. However, the Court of Appeal also did not side with them. The court refused to recognize the fact of violation of patent law. This means that each of the teams retains the right to dispose of their technologies and license them.
But scientists from the University of California at Berkeley are not going to give up. "We are considering further possibilities of reviewing the case in court," reports Berkley News. Biochemists note that they have long filed applications with the Patent Office describing experiments on plant and animal cells. So, the discovery belongs to them. The researchers claim that this fact is already "widely recognized by the scientific community."
The proceedings will surely be completed by the time the technology becomes widely used in clinical practice. While CRISPR is being used in an experimental mode, and the creators of the technology themselves admit that large-scale application will begin no earlier than in 5-10 years. By 2025, the gene editing market will grow to $10 billion, and the technique will be used both for the treatment of serious diseases and for food production.
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