Professor Aisling McMahon was recently invited to participate in and deliver a paper at an international interdisciplinary symposium on ‘In Vitro Gametogenesis (IVG): Ethics and Policy’ organised as part of the Welcome Trust funded ‘Future of Human Reproduction’ project. This symposium took place in Leiden on 3rd and 4th June and brought together leading international experts to discuss legal, ethical, scientific and broader societal issues posed by IVG technologies.
Professor McMahon’s paper discussed the potential patentability of IVG related technologies under European patent law which included consideration of how existing exclusions within European patent law could likely apply to patent applications over elements of such technologies. The paper considered the potential bioethical implications of patent grant and use over such technologies, including potential impacts of patents on the development of such technologies, and how patents over elements of such technologies – if such technologies are approved for clinical use in future – could impact access and provision of such technologies. Alongside such issues, the paper considered the potential avenues around how patent grant or licensing provisions could engage with such bioethical issues in future. This paper draws on research conducted under the ERC funded PatentsInHumans project.
Professor McMahon is the Principal Investigator on the ERC funded PatentsInHumans Project. You can find out more about the PatentsInHumans project by visiting the project website: www.patentsinhumans.eu