The research managers at Canada’s Structural Genomics
Consortium know why patents impede research. They give their discoveries away
and the results have been astonishing speed of new discoveries.
We in agriculture ought to learn a lesson from this. We need
to return to the practice of sharing genetics as openly and widely as possible
because that’s how advances are achieved.
The selfish approach doesn’t work, not even for the biggest,
wealthiest corporations.
Aled Edwards, chief executive officer of the Structural
Genomics Consortium, says pharmaceutical companies simply can’t afford to each
pursue the ground-breaking basic research that is the foundation for
discoveries and development of new drugs and medicines.
The Structural Genomics Consortium has created more than
1,000 molecules and there is no doubt that some of them will eventually prove
highly useful and profitable, and not only in medicine, but also in
agriculture.
Had the consortium chosen to patent each of these molecules,
it would have required years of bureaucratic paperwork.
Giving the molecules away went fast.
After the consortium published its findings about one
molecule in the scientific journal Nature, other researchers latched on and
within a year five or six papers were published, Edwards said in an interview
with Simon Houpt of Report on Business magazine. Those researchers say this
molecule is linked to leukemia.
“It’s taken the cancer world by storm,” Edwards said. “It
all happened literally in 20 months.”
Had the consortium gone the patent route, which would have
involved a deal with a private company, “we would still be at the lawyer stage,
trying to negotiate over imaginary results, over imaginary money,” Edwards
said.
So, in agriculture, let’s say the consortium puts out a
dozen molecules that could improve crop disease resistance or drought tolerance
or the ability to fix nitrogen or increase yields. And if those molecules are
available to every plant breeder in the world, imagine how fast farmers would
have improved varieties in their fields.
But with patents, we’d still be waiting for Monsanto’s
lawyers to negotiate an agreement with the consortium.
