The patenting of novel biotech products.

Patent laws covering NCEs are well established in most developed countries. For such entities to be patentable, they must be novel, inventive and have some practical use. Furthermore, the patent applications must describe how to make the entities, and provide data to support the patent claims. The same criteria are being applied by Patent Offices to the patenting of the new generation of biotech products: genes, proteins, microorganisms, transgenic plants and transgenic animals. This feature review focuses on the patenting of these novel products.