RESUMEN
Recombinant technology has revolutionised the way novel vaccines are developed and manufactured. The possibility to genetically modify micro-organisms to bring immunogenic material (antigens/epitopes) to the human (or animal) immune system to provoke an immune response, provides new hope to producing prophylactic vaccines against HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and emerging diseases. Regulatory requirements associated with the development of genetically-modified organism (GMO)-containing vaccines in Europe add an additional burden to the clinical trial application procedure and to the preparation and initiation of a clinical trial of such vaccines. Moreover, the GMO regulatory framework is complex and only partially harmonised across Europe, which may hamper multi-country clinical trials with GMO-containing vaccines. This paper provides an overview of clinical trial applications with GMO-containing vaccines in Europe and reviews the regulatory framework in countries where GMO-containing vaccine clinical trial authorisation (CTA) applications were submitted between 2004 and 2017.
Asunto(s)
Ensayos Clínicos como Asunto/legislación & jurisprudencia , Organismos Modificados Genéticamente/inmunología , Vacunas/inmunología , Animales , Bacterias/genética , Bacterias/inmunología , Europa (Continente) , Humanos , Organismos Modificados Genéticamente/genética , Parásitos/genética , Parásitos/inmunología , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente , Virus/genética , Virus/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Recent reports in Europe and the United States raise concern about the potential negative impact of gene patents on the freedom to operate of diagnosticians and on the access of patients to genetic diagnostic services. Patents, historically seen as legal instruments to trigger innovation, could cause undesired side effects in the public health domain. Clear empirical evidence on the alleged hindering effect of gene patents is still scarce. We therefore developed a patent categorization method to determine which gene patents could indeed be problematic. The method is applied to patents relevant for genetic testing of spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA). The SCA test is probably the most widely used DNA test in (adult) neurology, as well as one of the most challenging due to the heterogeneity of the disease. Typically tested as a gene panel covering the five common SCA subtypes, we show that the patenting of SCA genes and testing methods and the associated licensing conditions could have far-reaching consequences on legitimate access to this gene panel. Moreover, with genetic testing being increasingly standardized, simply ignoring patents is unlikely to hold out indefinitely. This paper aims to differentiate among so-called 'gene patents' by lifting out the truly problematic ones. In doing so, awareness is raised among all stakeholders in the genetic diagnostics field who are not necessarily familiar with the ins and outs of patenting and licensing.
Asunto(s)
Pruebas Genéticas/legislación & jurisprudencia , Patentes como Asunto , Ataxias Espinocerebelosas/diagnóstico , Europa (Continente) , Humanos , Concesión de Licencias , Patentes como Asunto/legislación & jurisprudencia , Ataxias Espinocerebelosas/genética , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
A patent landscape analysis of 22 common genetic diagnostic tests shows substantially fewer claims on genes per se than initially suggested but raises questions of legal uncertainty as to the claims' scope.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedades Genéticas Congénitas/diagnóstico , Pruebas Genéticas/legislación & jurisprudencia , Patentes como Asunto/legislación & jurisprudencia , Unión Europea , Humanos , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Grape juice contains about equal amounts of glucose and fructose, but wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ferment glucose slightly faster than fructose, leading to fructose concentrations that exceed glucose concentrations in the fermenting must. A high fructose/glucose ratio may contribute to sluggish and stuck fermentations, a major problem in the global wine industry. We evaluated wine yeast strains with different glucose and fructose consumption rates to show that a lower glucose preference correlates with a higher fructose/glucose phosphorylation ratio in cell extracts and a lower K (m) for both sugars. Hxk1 has a threefold higher V (max) with fructose than with glucose, whereas Hxk2 has only a slightly higher V (max) with glucose than with fructose. Overexpression of HXK1 in a laboratory strain of S. cerevisiae (W303-1A) accelerated fructose consumption more than glucose consumption, but overexpression in a wine yeast strain (VIN13) reduced fructose consumption less than glucose consumption. Results with laboratory strains expressing a single kinase showed that total hexokinase activity is inversely correlated with the glucose/fructose (G/F) discrepancy. The latter has been defined as the difference between the rate of glucose and fructose fermentation. We conclude that the G/F discrepancy in wine yeast strains correlates with the kinetic properties of hexokinase-mediated sugar phosphorylation. A higher fructose/glucose phosphorylation ratio and a lower K (m) might serve as markers in selection and breeding of wine yeast strains with a lower tendency for sluggish fructose fermentation.