ERC PatentsInHumans: Year 2 Report

Abstract

Building upon work in year 1, a key part of the research in year 2 focused on developing deeper understandings of the potential bioethical issues posed by patents over technologies related to how we treat, use and modify the human body. Research was conducted to develop a deeper understanding of scope of the ‘bioethical’ implications which can arise in such contexts, and how ‘bioethics’ as a term is defined within the project. Relatedly, Prof McMahon developed further her research refining the five-category taxonomy used within the project of patentable ‘technologies’ related to how we treat, use or modify the human body, namely: 1) patentable ‘technologies’ that are derived from the body such as isolated human genes which are patentable in Europe; 2) patentable ‘technologies’ which comprise of tools acting on the body, such as tools used in diagnostic or surgical processes; 3) patentable ‘technologies’ that are chemical substances created outside the body but which treat the body, such as medicines; 4) patentable ‘technologies’ that are integrated with the body, such as elements of medical devices; and 5) ‘technologies’ which are intended to be used in ways that can enhance the human body, or alter the creation of future human life. The research led to refining of category 5, as although some technologies within categories 4 and 5 may overlap (such as where technologies have dual uses), for the purposes of category 5 the project is interested in the distinct bioethical implications posed by patents over technologies which are intended to be used in ways which could enhance the body in significant ways, or technologies that are intended to be used to create/change human life, such as in the assisted human reproductive or gene editing contexts