U.S. gene patents: Patient care stymied in Canada, hospital claims

An Ottawa hospital is challenging the legality of gene patents that hamper the ability of doctors to freely screen for potentially deadly genetic diseases without fear of being sued for patent violations.

On Monday, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) started a legal process in Federal Court that could decide if human genes can be patented in Canada.

"The core position really is that no one should be able to patent human DNA," said Alex Munter, president and CEO of the Ottawa-based CHEO. "It would be like patenting water or air."

Patenting the Sun - Big Pharma wants to own naturally occurring genes. What would Salk say?

In 1955, when Jonas Salk's successful polio vaccine was announced, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow famously asked the scientist: who owns the patent on this new drug that has finally wiped out one of the most dreaded scourges of the century? Salk replied matter-of-factly: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent."

He paused, as if to let this seemingly obvious fact sink in, then continued: "Could you patent the sun?"

Fast-forward a half century, and Salk's statement seem quaint, if not downright quixotic.