Tuesday, 18 October 2011 21:33

European Court of Justice- Patent application by the cell researcher rejected Featured

A patent application from 1997 by the well-known stem cell researcher Prof. Dr. Oliver Brüstle has been rejected in the Luxembourg courts.


The focus of the court´s decision was a patent application from 1997. Prof. Brüstle, chairholder at the Institute of Reconstructive Medicine at Bonn University, wanted to patent a method in which he could gain neuronal precursor cells from embryonic stem cells with the goal of a treatment of patients who are suffering from nervous diseases like Parkinsons. For his research The Federal Government allowed that he could use imported embryonic stem cells from Israel. The content of the patent application was a method to gain nerve cells from already existing human embryonic stem cells. The patent neither included the use of embryonic tissue nor the production of embryonic stem cell lines.
Rather, what was involved here was a method in which already existing and internationally available ES cell lines would have been used. After years of legal dispute with the environmental organisation Greenpeace, the case was brought to the hightest level of European jurisdiction.

In an ealier interview, Prof. Brüstle claimed that a double standard operates in Germany: Companies from outside of Germany can offer neural stem cells totally legally. These embryonic stem cells have been harvested from human cell lines outside of the German territory in the same manner as his intended method which was now been rejected. On this basis foreign corporations can now produce German inventions abroad and after that import them into Germany where these inventions receive no patent protection.

The judges of the European Court decided that the term "human embryo" has to be interpreted widely. However, they found it possible that where it is concerned with the health of a human embryo, e.g. in cases of malformations, the use of this method for therapeutical dor diagnostic purposes could be the subject of a patent.

Meanwhile researchers in the field are currently concentrated on the use of adult stem cells as well as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)*, which hold a high potential e. g. for breeding tissue and organs as well as in the treatment of neural diseases.

Source: http://www.abendblatt.de/
Source: http://www.rp-online.de/
* Source: http://www.biotechnologie.de/