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EST patent granted for human kinase homologs

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, page 125 (1999)Cite this article

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In November 1998, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO; Washington, DC) awarded Incyte Pharmaceuticals (Palo Alto, CA) the first patent for an expressed sequence tag (EST)—a gene fragment containing partial cDNAs of expressed mRNAs—claiming polynucleotides that identify and encode novel human kinases. The first of its kind, this patent could lead to new licensing revenue streams for Incyte and other companies with EST patent claims pending. However, there is concern that the language of the patent enables the patentee to claim not only the EST but also the full gene of which it is part, and it is unclear how licensing tangles resulting from patents on multiple ESTs from the same gene will be resolved. In addition, academic researchers complain that licensing ESTs as research tools will significantly slow genomic research. Although the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has so far chosen to publish its ESTs, there is speculation as to how long it will be before public databases are commercialized.

Satisfying the PTO's "written description" requirement for invention (Nat. Biotechnol. 16:711, 1998), the Incyte patent (No. 5,817,479) claims the novel "nucleic acid sequences" (not known in the public domain) and their use as DNA probes to obtain the full–length human kinase cDNA described in the patent.

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  1. a freelance writer working in San Diego, CA.

    Debra Robertson

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Robertson, D. EST patent granted for human kinase homologs. Nat Biotechnol 17, 125 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/6119

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