Intellectual Property and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

摘要

On 9 August 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush directed that federal funding could be used for human embryonic stem (HES) cell research, but only for the small number of ES cell lines then in existence (listed on the National Institutes of Health Stem Cell Registry) (1). In reaction to the limitations, individual states and private foundations are designating funds to support research on the much larger number of HES lines that were derived after the President's deadline. Although these funding sources sidestep the strictures of the President's order, they do not remove what may ultimately prove a more daunting barrier to progress in this field: the intellectual property rights for HES cells. This commentary describes two fundamental patents that cover HES cells in the United States and highlights their implications for HES cell research.