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The morality and ethics governing CRISPR–Cas9 patents in China

Nature Biotechnology volume 34, pages 616–618 (2016)Cite this article

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Chinese patent law may not be equipped to deal with the potential moral issues raised by gene-editing technology.

Gene-editing technology based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system has provided new opportunities for patents, but it has also presented a moral maze for the life sciences1. CRISPR–Cas9 is already at the heart of a patent battle in the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, in China, scientists have only recently begun to file CRISPR patent applications before the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO); most applications are pending. Moreover, Chinese scientists have started using gene-editing technology in human tripronuclear (3PN) zygotes, raising questions about the morality and ethics of such uses2. This article analyzes CRISPR–Cas9 technology from the Chinese patent perspective and considers what Chinese patent law can do to mitigate moral concerns regarding this technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yaojin Peng is at the Institute for Globalization and International Regulation, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.,

    Yaojin Peng

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Correspondence to Yaojin Peng.

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Peng, Y. The morality and ethics governing CRISPR–Cas9 patents in China. Nat Biotechnol 34, 616–618 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3590

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