Difference between revisions of "Team:Tufts/app scenario"
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Can either Dr. Doudna or Dr. Zhang decide to prevent drugs from coming to market if they use the CRISPR/Cas9 system? If so, they could be denying the public of a greater good because of a contract negotiation with the company that develops the drug. Had Jonas Salk done so in the 1950s, the world would not have had as wide access to the polio vaccine. | Can either Dr. Doudna or Dr. Zhang decide to prevent drugs from coming to market if they use the CRISPR/Cas9 system? If so, they could be denying the public of a greater good because of a contract negotiation with the company that develops the drug. Had Jonas Salk done so in the 1950s, the world would not have had as wide access to the polio vaccine. | ||
− | <p>If we switched to a system based on open biology, would scientists in academia, biotech, and pharma industries continue to do groundbreaking work? Research is expensive, requiring numerous grants and external funding. If companies cannot afford to pay their employees for work, how can they expect to attract top notch researchers and continue developing drugs?<br> | + | <p>If we switched to a system based on open biology, would scientists in academia, biotech, and pharma industries continue to do groundbreaking work? Research is expensive, requiring numerous grants and external funding. If companies cannot afford to pay their employees for work, how can they expect to attract top notch researchers and continue developing drugs?<br><br> |
We have concluded that a mixture of open and private biology is the best option for the field of synthetic biology. The courts need to establish a legal distinction between engineering biological systems to perform new functions, and discovering the functionality of an existing element. Manipulating systems to carry out novel functions still requires the discovery of new materials, but in order to encourage the brightest minds to science, there needs to be an incentive for new researchers to join the field. Companies that alter the genome of an organism have the right to that intellectual property; however, we begin going down a slippery slope when we allow naturally occurring genes to be patented -- as a company may want to patent the human genome. We must also establish recourse for companies that invest millions into drugs in order to prevent them from being “falsely sued.” We hope to discuss many of these issues and generate potential solutions at our conference: <a href=""> Intellectual Property in the Age of Synthetic Biology.</a></p> | We have concluded that a mixture of open and private biology is the best option for the field of synthetic biology. The courts need to establish a legal distinction between engineering biological systems to perform new functions, and discovering the functionality of an existing element. Manipulating systems to carry out novel functions still requires the discovery of new materials, but in order to encourage the brightest minds to science, there needs to be an incentive for new researchers to join the field. Companies that alter the genome of an organism have the right to that intellectual property; however, we begin going down a slippery slope when we allow naturally occurring genes to be patented -- as a company may want to patent the human genome. We must also establish recourse for companies that invest millions into drugs in order to prevent them from being “falsely sued.” We hope to discuss many of these issues and generate potential solutions at our conference: <a href=""> Intellectual Property in the Age of Synthetic Biology.</a></p> |
Revision as of 00:35, 18 September 2015
If we switched to a system based on open biology, would scientists in academia, biotech, and pharma industries continue to do groundbreaking work? Research is expensive, requiring numerous grants and external funding. If companies cannot afford to pay their employees for work, how can they expect to attract top notch researchers and continue developing drugs?
We have concluded that a mixture of open and private biology is the best option for the field of synthetic biology. The courts need to establish a legal distinction between engineering biological systems to perform new functions, and discovering the functionality of an existing element. Manipulating systems to carry out novel functions still requires the discovery of new materials, but in order to encourage the brightest minds to science, there needs to be an incentive for new researchers to join the field. Companies that alter the genome of an organism have the right to that intellectual property; however, we begin going down a slippery slope when we allow naturally occurring genes to be patented -- as a company may want to patent the human genome. We must also establish recourse for companies that invest millions into drugs in order to prevent them from being “falsely sued.” We hope to discuss many of these issues and generate potential solutions at our conference: Intellectual Property in the Age of Synthetic Biology.
[1] Regalado, Antonio. “Who Owns the Biggest Biotech Discovery of the Century?” MIT Technology Review. N.p., 04 December 2014. Web. 09 August 2015.
[2] Pollack, Andrew. “Farmer’s Supreme Court Challenge Puts Monsanto Patents at Risk.” The New York Times. N.p., 15 February 2013. Web. 10 August 2015.