Patenting genes ?
Ah but they already do that and of course the protein sequences of natural substances like insulin and vitamin B12.
The US eventually ruled against the patenting of the natural BRCA1 (cancer gene) last year but the Aussies ruled that it could be patented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_patent
It's one of those areas where there is an immense amount of controversy and different countries can come to different conclusions.
This is Nestles answer
http://www.nestle.com/aboutus/ask-n...trying-to-patent-fennel-flower-nigella-sativa
and a patent drafting firms take on it.
http://inventingpatents.com/nestle-patenting-fennel-flower/
I've no liking for Nestle (especially when it used to promote bottle feeding in the developing world) but they say that they are patenting using one of the chemicals in the plant for use in food allergies and this is a new use. (and I think method of extraction) If so then they aren't doing anything different than for example the patenting of Metformin which was based on the active ingredients of French lilac (and traditionally used for diabetes)
Here's an interesting patent from Dr R Bernstein for treating 'carbohydrate addiction' using anorexients (appetite suppressants ) and citing a huge variety of substances that could be used. (seems like a splatter technique) The list includes existing drugs (such as SSRis), amino acids, neurotransmitter substances , various proteins and traditional chinese herbs.
All it seems capable of being patented for a new usage (although actually this patent looks as if it has lapsed.)
http://www.google.com/patents/US5716976
