International biotech bodies speak out against US Patent & Trademarks Office's eligibility guidance

Australian trade body AusBiotech is just one of 12 international biotech industry bodies to have joined together to express concern over the recent “judicial and administrative expansion of non-statutory patent law governing the patent-eligibility of certain classes of biotechnology inventions in the United States” by the US Patents and Trademarks Office.

The USPTO’s guidance singles out naturally-derived biotech inventions for disfavored treatment, and establishes practices that de-incentivize investment in research and development of large areas of biotechnology.

Categories such as recombinant industrial enzymes, purified naturally-occurring substances as active ingredients and treatment using medicinal models have all been recently rejected by the Office. The coalition argues that if this is to become systemic, it will seriously damage investment incentives in biotechnology.