Who Owns Your Genes? Intellectual Property, Innovation Policy, and the Future of Genetic Medicine

Should there be boundaries to patentable subject matter? What happens if the patents stifle innovation, rather than promoting it? How should we proceed if patents negatively influence health care, rather than enhancing it? The panel will discuss these questions by focusing on the controversy over patents on the breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA) genes, which led to a current ACLU class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Myriad Genetics. This panel discussion is a part of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Personal Genomics Seminar Series.

Panel discussants are:
Shobita Parthasarathy, Assistant Professor, Ford School of Public Policy, author of 'Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics of Health Care.'

Sofia Merajver, Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk and Evaluation Program, University of Michigan.

Rebecca Eisenberg, Professor, Law School, University of Michigan, and lecturer about the role of intellectual property in biopharmaceutical research.

Co-sponsored by Office of the Vice President for Research, Center for Ethics in Public Life, School of Public Health, and the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.