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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (775)	3/6/2000 10:14:00 PM
From: Scott	Respond to of 52153

Rick and PB, there are a couple twists on biotech patents that are often missed. One is equating the number of pending patent applications with the number of gene sequences filed on. Although the Patent Office (PTO) has said that a biotech application can only claim 10 sequences, an application can disclose (teach) an unlimited number, and then a later "continuation" , or "son of", application can claim them later. I know for a fact that the 7500 filed HGSI applications contain WAY more than 7500 human nucleotide sequences. Second point: while I agree that EST's are not genes, in some ways a patent on an EST is more powerful than one on a gene! In the infinite "wisdom" of the biotech group at the PTO, they decided a couple years ago that IF you could come up with some excuse for a use for the snippet of cDNA called an EST, you were entitled to a patent on any nucleotide sequence that includes that EST. So most claims read not only for the EST, but also for any seq that "comprises" the EST. Which dominates any future gene or genes that include the EST. Which means that the holder of the EST "comprising claim" can either prevent the later owner of the associated gene patent from ever marketing the gene product drug, or else will license his dominating EST patent to the holder of the gene patent rights, in return for some share of the profits. Many of the early filed HGSI patent applications, some of which are now issued, were for EST's, and these will produce revenue, even though the expression products of the sequences they describe may well never be pharmaceuticals. I put my kids' college funds largely into HGSI the day after the PTO announced that EST's and EST "comprising seqs" were patentable, back when HGSI was about 30. Needless to say, the college funds are doing OK.