Scots biotechs warned to patent

SCOTTISH firms rushing into the new high-growth biodevices sector risk wasting millions if they fail to understand the competitive patent landscape around components such as stem cells, one of Scotland's top life science patent experts has warned.

Dr Paul Chapman, a former molecular biologist now a partner for Edinburgh-based patent attorneys Marks & Clerk, warned of "doubt and confusion" over patent law before a major conference on stem cell research to be held in Glasgow on Friday.

He claimed that companies were failing to investigate the patent landscape before backing commercialisation projects.

Biodevices, a relatively new research area offering opportunities for biotech and medical tech companies, are manufactured products, often microscopic in scale, which are used in diagnostics, or to provide therapies within the human body.

"There are significant business opportunities for Scottish companies, but they should not jump blindly onto the bandwagon without gathering patent intelligence," Chapman said.

"You don't want to spend millions of pounds on research only to find that there are five other companies working on the same product. It is very important to understand the competitive landscape. Companies have to constantly revisit these questions to stay ahead of the competition."

Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences division last week staged a major biodevices "partnering" conference to encourage collaborative innovation, commercialisation and investment.

The conference, which attracted twice the projected 200-delegate figure, was attended by representatives of 130 companies, from 20 countries.

Chapman said that biodevices threw up complex patent issues, for example through their use in conjunction with stem cells from embryos, whose patentability is contested. "This causes doubt and confusion and people coming into the area need to have the information to hand," he said.