CSIRO rattles gene silencing sabers

In a release described as “correcting the record”, CSIRO has fired a salvo over Benitec and Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI)’s bows on gene silencing patent claims.

The CSIRO release, backed by the legal weight of their General Counsel, claimed that despite Benitec’s recently issued UK and US patents, the original gene silencing concept was demonstrated using double-stranded RNA in 1995 – by a CSIRO employee.

CSIRO's claim is based on work by Dr Peter Waterhouse on virus-resistance in tobacco plants, whereas Benitec's claim rests on Dr Mick Graham's RNAi gene silencing work at QDPI.

Since then, CSIRO has filed a number of gene silencing patent applications and holds a US patent for obtaining modified phenotypes in plant cells, an accepted patent application in Australia and a number of pending US and international patent applications.

However, Benitec and QDPI’s US and UK patents are for animal-based gene silencing technology -- which muddies the waters even further. Benitec's patents cover gene silencing using DNA-directed RNA interference ddRNAi, and it is evident that the future stewardship of the technology overall stands to reap some significant benefits. CSIRO’s release also referred, rather ponderously, to “maximising Australia's national benefit”, which could indicate some high level lobbying given Benitec’s upcoming licensing deal with US companies. Healy said CSIRO had filed over 2000 pages of evidence at the Australian Patent Office, and was awaiting results.