Patent controversies and court cases: cancer diagnosis, therapy and prevention.

ABSTRACT: Patents are issued essentially by all countries on inventions that are deemed novel, non-obvious, clearly described and of significant utility or industrial application. The only exceptions to patenting an invention are abstract ideas, laws of nature and natural phenomena, although the exceptions vary depending on countries where moral, public order or human rights considerations are also taken into account. Although patent laws are updated over decades, the rapid progress of science creates situations that the patent laws on the book cannot address, leading to contentious legal issues. This is often true for life saving drugs, particularly drugs for cancers or HIV/AIDS, which are expensive and beyond the reach of poor people because of the proprietary positions of these patented drugs. An

SUBMITTER: Fialho AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493429 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature