Du Li
Faculty of Law, University of Macau, E32, Avenida da Universidade, SAR, Taipa, Macau.
Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
BMC Med Ethics. 2018 Apr 24;19(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s12910-018-0271-8.
The patenting of human genes has been the subject of debate for decades. While China has gradually come to play an important role in the global genomics-based testing and treatment market, little is known about Chinese scholars' perspectives on patent protection for human genes.
A content analysis of academic literature was conducted to identify Chinese scholars' concerns regarding gene patents, including benefits and risks of patenting human genes, attitudes that researchers hold towards gene patenting, and any legal and policy recommendations offered for the gene patent regime in China.
57.2% of articles were written by law professors, but scholars from health sciences, liberal arts, and ethics also participated in discussions on gene patent issues. While discussions of benefits and risks were relatively balanced in the articles, 63.5% of the articles favored gene patenting in general and, of the articles (n = 41) that explored gene patents in the Chinese context, 90.2% supported patent protections for human genes in China. The patentability of human genes was discussed in 33 articles, and 75.8% of these articles reached the conclusion that human genes are patentable.
Chinese scholars view the patent regime as an important legal tool to protect the interests of inventors and inventions as well as the genetic resources of China. As such, many scholars support a gene patent system in China. These attitudes towards gene patents remain unchanged following the court ruling in the Myriad case in 2013, but arguments have been raised about the scope of gene patents, in particular that the increasing numbers of gene patents may negatively impact public health in China.
人类基因专利问题已争论了数十年。尽管中国在全球基于基因组学的检测与治疗市场中逐渐发挥重要作用，但对于中国学者对人类基因专利保护的观点却知之甚少。
对学术文献进行内容分析，以确定中国学者对基因专利的关切，包括人类基因专利的益处和风险、研究人员对基因专利的态度，以及针对中国基因专利制度提出的任何法律和政策建议。
57.2%的文章由法学教授撰写，但健康科学、文科和伦理学领域的学者也参与了基因专利问题的讨论。虽然文章中对益处和风险的讨论相对平衡，但63.5%的文章总体上支持基因专利，在探讨中国背景下基因专利的文章（n = 41）中，90.2%支持中国对人类基因的专利保护。33篇文章讨论了人类基因的可专利性，其中75.8%的文章得出人类基因可获专利的结论。
中国学者将专利制度视为保护发明者和发明利益以及中国遗传资源的重要法律工具。因此，许多学者支持中国建立基因专利制度。2013年“麦利亚德案”的法院裁决后，这些对基因专利的态度并未改变，但有人对基因专利的范围提出了争论，特别是基因专利数量的增加可能会对中国的公共卫生产生负面影响。
