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Pluripotent stem cells: patent pooling and HESC comparisons
Sources: New Scientist, Press release, Physorg news
Kyoto University and associated Japanese company iPS Academia have announced an agreement with US company iPierian to share a worldwide ‘pool’ of patents relating to induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies.
Academic researchers will be able to use the technologies without payment, whilst companies will have to negotiate licensing fees, the reported aim being "to bring iPSC technology to patients with intractable diseases as soon as possible". Patent pooling for stem cell technologies to boost the development of medical applications was recently recommended by an international group (see previous news). However, this is a very small pool, relating to three parties only; other holders of iPSC patents are not involved, and could even raise legal objections to any other users if they feel their own intellectual property rights are being infringed.
Considered a potentially more ethically acceptable alternative to human embryonic stem (HES) cells, iPS cells are the subject of intensive research efforts. A new method for comparing them with ‘gold standard’ HES cells based on genomic profiles has just reported a high level of equivalence, though some researchers are less confident that iPS cells will perform as well.