Patents shouldn't apply to gene sequences: Affymetrix

US company Affymetrix has told a government panel that patents should not be applied to gene sequences.

The company's position was recently reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, which quoted Affymetrix's general counsel Barbara Caulfield, who said: "There should be no patenting of gene sequences, period. They were invented by nature."

The government panel consisted of representatives from two US agencies, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The agencies are studying whether patents stifle competition in biotechnology and other knowledge-based industries.

Affymetrix is expected to profit from reduced gene patenting, as its technology platform relies on using gene sequences to create high-throughput screening systems. As more gene sequences are patented, it's likely that companies like Affymetrix will have to spend more money on acquiring licenses to use specific sequences in their products.

Karen Sinclair, a patent attorney at Australian firm Watermark, said that most gene sequences were initially patented for use as probes, their simplest application.

After further research on the gene, other applications may be patented for specific uses of the sequence.

"You can't actually patent anything that arises from nature," Sinclair said - patented gene sequences were often altered in some way, for example their intron sequences were removed.

Sinclair said academic research was usually not affected by patent protection.

"Most jurisdictions allow the use of the sequence for R&D purposes," she said, adding that the patents came into play when the sequence was used for something with commercial potential.

A number of Australian companies and institutions have filed for gene sequence patents in the US and in other international jurisdictions.