Against prohibitions
The geneticist called for lifting the ban on patenting genome editing technologies in Russia
The ban on patenting genomic editing technologies in Russia makes it difficult to conduct research in this area and its development, according to Denis Rebrikov, vice-rector for Research at the Pirogov Russian Scientific Research Medical University, molecular biologist.
"What barriers do we see to the development of these technologies today? Both in Russia and in the world today, unfortunately, for some reason, legal protection and patenting of methods for modifying human germ line cells are prohibited. I would like to note that, according to most experts, these technologies (if not today, then in the foreseeable future) will still be allowed to be used. The existence of such a ban makes research work much more difficult today," he said during the round table "Genomic Editing technologies: Ethical and Medical aspects" at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Rebrikov clarified that we are talking about lifting the ban on patenting technologies that would allow the modification of human germ line cells, formulated in Article 1349 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. "We are developing different technologies today. All over the world, in almost all areas, technologies can be protected as a result of intellectual activity – patenting. But if we write that this invention is aimed at correcting a mutation in an embryo, then both our Civil Code and the world [say that] I cannot apply for a patent. As a result, today this area is developing more slowly than it could. Because researchers and companies that order these works from researchers are not ready to invest in those areas where they cannot protect their inventions," he explained to reporters.
According to the biologist, edited embryos do not necessarily need to be immediately "hooked" to a woman. While the technology has not shown its practicality and safety, embryos can be frozen. "Such a cryobank of edited and frozen embryos can be stored until the state says what can be transferred. Until then, we can work out this technology quite calmly in freezing, check it with the consent of parents," he explained Rebrikov, adding that the first cases of genome editing should be cases of correcting mutations for severe hereditary diseases.
Rebrikov's constant opponent, chief freelance geneticist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Sergey Kutsev, in turn, noted that genome editing is "not the story of tomorrow," but within 5-10 years such technologies can enter into practice.
About genome editing
Russian scientists have been arguing for months about the right to interfere with the embryo genome. Russian molecular biologist Denis Rebrikov previously stated that he plans to get permission from the Ministry of Health to edit the genome of the embryo of the unborn child of a married couple with hereditary deafness. In turn, Kutsev said that he was preparing an appeal to the ministry with a request to declare a moratorium on experiments on editing the genome of embryos.
In October 2019, the Ministry of Health stated that it was premature to allow editing of the human genome in clinical practice now, it would be an irresponsible measure. The fact is that at the present stage of the development of such technologies, specialists have not yet studied the possible complications in the short and long term. The Ministry added that the World Health Organization (WHO) adheres to the same position.
Earlier, at the end of last year, a Chinese court sentenced the Chinese geneticist Jiankui He to three years in prison and a huge fine, his colleagues Zhenli Zhang and Jinzhou Qin were sentenced to slightly shorter terms and fines. He and his colleagues are known to have altered the DNA of embryos that were conceived using in vitro fertilization (IVF) using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing method.
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