On 20th April 2023, we were delighted to host the public launch event for the European Research Council (ERC) funded PatentsInHumans project in Maynooth University. Dr Fergus Ryan (Head of the School of Law and Criminology) offered a welcome address and introductory remarks on the evening. Following this, Professor Aisling McMahon introduced the ERC PatentsInHumans project and outlined the project’s research objective namely, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the potential bioethical issues posed by patents on technologies related to the human body, and to understand what extent such bioethical issues are – or could be further – considered within European patent grant and licensing decision-making. This was followed by presentations from Professor Susi Geiger (UCD) and Dr Christine Kelly (UCD) who provided reflections on the potential bioethical and societal implications of how such patents are granted and used over health-related technologies based on insights from their respective fields, of health care markets and public health. In the second half of the event, Professor Jorge Contreras (University of Utah) delivered a keynote lecture on “The Civil Rights Case Against Gene Patents in America” based on his recent book, The Genome Defence: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine who owns your DNA (NY: Hachette/Algonquin, 2021).
The public launch event was attended by over 45 people, including, members of the public, students and academics working in a range of disciplines including law, biology, political science, and business. Attendees also included practicing lawyers and technology transfer specialists.