McGill law Professor Richard Gold called for less aggressive patenting and a more collaborative effort in the biotechnology and health care industries in a conference held last week in London, England. Gold and his research group warned that a patenting surfeit, during early stages of research, would suppress innovation and limit biotechnology's potential to address the world's hunger problems.
Gold, the chair of the International Expert Group on Biotechnology, Innovation and Intellectual Property, criticized the old business model of the biotechnology industry.
"[The old model failed] to deliver on its potential to address disease and hunger in both developing and industrialized nations," Gold told the Financial Times.
Biotechnology research offers new possibilities: new drugs that lower usage of pesticides in crops, and genetically modified rice that would increase nutritional levels. Patent wars between corporations, however, are "blocking negotiations that could have benefited both sides, as well as the larger public.," Gold said to FierceBiotech, the biotech industry's daily monitor.
A case study of pharmaceutical firm Myriad Genetics supports Gold's claim that less collaboration hurts industry. Myriad acquired the U.S. patents for breast cancer screening, and while Myriad was the sole provider of breast cancer screening in the U.S., collapses in negotiations prevented the company from conducting business in the Canadian and European markets.
"In Europe, there was public sentiment against the idea of screening patents. They felt it was more of a discovery than an invention," said Assistant Professor Tania Bubela, who has worked with Gold and is part of the school of public health at the University of Alberta.
"In Canada, Myriad's non-collaborative approach with Canadian health officials lost them Canadian market share," Bubela said. "Myriad hit a stone wall because they did not understand Canadian politics-a business model that works in the United States does not necessarily work in Canada. Lack of communication with Ontario's Department of Health didn't help."
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