The Wire

Patent law originally grew from the need for inventors to protect their inventions – like the mousetrap or the safety pin. Somewhere along the line it went from invention to discovery – These days a patent can be taken out on a human gene and the biotech goldrush is all about finding and owning those crucial genes which either cause or prevent disease. Luigi Palombi is a patent lawyer and he’s written a book, Gene Cartels warning about the dangers of pharmaceutical companies which hold patents over biological materials like viruses and genes – he says their monoploies make drugs more expensive and discourage research.