AS MUCH as an eighth of the human genome could be patented in one go. Last
week British company Oxford GlycoSciences announced that it had filed for
patents on 4000 human proteins and the genes that code for them.
They鈥檙e all proteins linked with illness, spotted by comparing healthy and
diseased tissue. 鈥淲e think it鈥檚 the biggest group of disease-specific proteins
anyone鈥檚 ever filed for,鈥� says Michael Kranda, chief executive officer at OGS.
The entire human genome only contains an estimated 30,000 genes.
Opponents of gene patenting are appalled. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty shocking,鈥� says Helen
Wallace of the British lobby group GeneWatch. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another stop in the selfish,
immoral race to own human genes,鈥� she says. Kranda rejects this. He says that
the company鈥檚 application breaks no new ground. 鈥淭hese are the same kind of
patents everyone鈥檚 filed for the past ten years,鈥� he says.
Advertisement
But Wallace says the patents will discourage other teams from doing research
on these proteins. 鈥淚t means that other companies and research institutes can鈥檛
develop treatments based on the same genes without being challenged by OGS,鈥� she
says.
And OGS plans to guard its 鈥渃rown jewels鈥� jealously. If anyone develops drugs
based on the patented proteins without permission, the company intends to pursue
them for royalties. 鈥淥ur goal is to keep ownership,鈥� says Kranda. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be
happy to license some targets to those who want to spend money pursuing them,鈥�
he adds.
OGS made its discoveries by meticulously comparing the proteins churned out
by healthy and diseased tissue. The company has discovered many markers or
antigens that are unique to diseased tissue such as cancers. Through exclusive
collaborations with other companies, OGS hopes to develop antibodies and drugs
that attack and destroy diseased tissue by homing in on these antigens or other
distinctive proteins. 鈥淥ur goal is to develop drugs,鈥� Kranda says.
The company鈥檚 priorities are breast cancer and various blood and lymph
cancers. But it has also identified rogue proteins linked to neurological
disorders and fungal infections.