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Home › Dodgy Deals ›
Dodgy Deal
Patents on chimpanzees and other animals- international -

Project – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Contact:

Profile authors: Christoph Then, Director; Thomas Schweiger, Advocacy Officer; Test Biotech. Tel: + 49 89 358 992 76

Last update: 2016-09-06 00:45:27
.. Photo: .

Project – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Contact:

Profile authors: Christoph Then, Director; Thomas Schweiger, Advocacy Officer; Test Biotech. Tel: + 49 89 358 992 76

Last update: 2016-09-06 00:45:27
Why this profile?

What must happen

In the view of Testbiotech, patents on animals are unethical, particularly as they create an economic incentive for animal experiments without medical necessity. This runs counter to EU and national laws which aim to reduce the number ofanimal experiments.

As such, banks should make a clear statement in their corporate social responsibility guidelines saying that patents on animals are unethical and that they will not do business with companies that claim such patents. Banks should communicate this commitment to their business partners. This issue concerns any bank that entertains business relationships with the pharmaceutical sector, because patents on animals are widespread.

About
Sectors Genetic Engineering
Location
Website http://www.testbiotech.org

The European Patent Office (EPO) has, since 2010, granted five patents on chimpanzees to the companies Bionomics, Intrexon and Altor BioScience. The animals have been genetically engineered to e.g. develop cancer or epilepsy and are intended for use in animal experiments for pharmaceutical research.

In recent years, the number of patents on genetically engineered animals that have been applied for and granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), has increased significantly.

Out of the ten largest global pharmaceutical corporations, Hoffmann La-Roche (and its subsidiary Genentech), Pfizer and Novartis file the highest number of relevant patent applications. According to database research, they have each applied for around 100 to 400 patents that concern animals and the use of animals in experiments.

Impacts

Other impacts

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Patents were originally designed to reward technical inventions. However, animals and other living organisms are not human inventions and applying patents to them raises ethical questions. 

Patents on animals provide commercial incentives that can lead to a substantial increase in animal experiments, without medical necessity. First because experiments are conducted prior to the patent applications, to prove that the 'invention' works. And then because there is economic pressure to market the patented animal within the period of 20 years while the patent is valid. 

There is a huge gap between what might be considered as being necessary to achieve future medical benefit and the number of animal experiments being actually performed. Animal experiments have become a self purpose. In consequence, this development is in conflict with European animal welfare legislation which requires that animal experiments are reduced to what is absolutely necessary. 

In Great Britain, there were more than 4.1 million animal experiments in 2013. More than half of the animals were genetically engineered. In Germany the number of genetically engineered animals being used is also still increasing, and stands at around one million in 2014. 

Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees in the wild for many years, comments: "While on the one hand protection of great apes gets more and more support in society, on the other hand the desire of some companies to patent chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, is a step in the opposite direction. It seems to me shocking that a company should consider a great ape as a mere technical tool. If we allow that in this day and age people in the future will look back and say: How could they?"

Financiers
Institution type
Finance type
Year

People who are on the boards of banks and of pharmaceutical companies

HSBC and Novartis

Andreas von Planta has been a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis since 2006, qualifying as an independent Non-Executive Director. He is Chairman of the Risk Committee, and a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, as well as the Governance, Nomination and Corporate Responsibilities Committee. At the same time he is the Chairman of the Board of HSBC Private Bank Suisse and HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse), part of HSBC (United Kingdom). He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Nationale Suisse (Schweizerische National Versicherungs Gesellschaft) since 1997, acting as Chairman since 2010. He continued in this role after the completion of the takeover of Nationale Suisse by Swiss insurance company Helvetia in 2014. (Profundo 2015)

JP Morgan Chase and Novartis

William T. Winters, a member of the Novartis Board of Directors since 2013 and current member of the Compensation Committee served as co-CEO of JPMorgan's investment banking business from 2003 to 2010.

UBS and La Roche

Beatrice Weder di Mauro has been a member of the Board of Directors of Roche Holding since 2006. She was elected to the Board of Directors of UBS (Switzerland) in 2012. At UBS she has been a member of the Audit Committee since 2012, and joined the Risk Committee in 2013.

Source:

Profundo 2015. Links between selected pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions.

 

Companies

Altor BioSciences

United States
Website
- The company has been granted patent EP1409646 claiming chimpanzees with a genetically engineered immune system. The patent was [partially] revoked in opposition procedures in July 2015.

Bionomics

Australia
Website
- The company has been granted patent EP1364025 claiming chimpanzees with a manipulated genome making them more likely to suffer from cancer and EP 1852505 claiming chimpanzees suffering from epilepsy. During the opposition procedure, the company announced to withdraw its claims on genetically engineered animals.

Genentech

Switzerland
Website
- Genetech considers itself the “founder of the industry” and is now a daughter-company of Hoffmann La-Roche. The company has more than 400 patent applications which claim genetically modified animals and/or the use of such animals in experiments.

Hoffmann-La Roche

Switzerland
Website
- This major pharmaceutical company has applied for about 100 patents which claim genetically modified animals and/or the use of such animals in experiments.

Intrexon

United States
Website
- The company has been granted patents EP 1456346 and EP 1572862 claiming chimpanzees genetically engineered with DNA stemming from insects. The company uses the methods of synthetic biology to radically change the genetic make-up of animals. According to their homepage, it is part of their business model to gain genetic control over all sorts of living organisms: "Intrexon applies novel proprietary platform technologies (...) enabling unprecedented control over cellular output and functions."

Novartis

Switzerland
Website
- Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company and has about 200 patent aplications which claim genetically modified animals and/or the use of such animals in experiments.

Pfizer

United States
Website
- This major pharmaceutical company has applied for about 400 patents which claim genetically modified animals and/or the use of such animals in experiments.
No companies
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Conference “The Patentented Ape”, Berlin

2015-06-17 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Genetically engineered 'man made' mice sold at a discount

2015-06-11 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Who is investing in experiments with genetically engineered chimpanzees?

2015-06-02 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Opposition against European Patent on chimpanzees genetically manipulated to develop cancer

2014-04-30 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Appeal to international investors: Stop patents on Chimpanzees!

2013-11-21 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European Patent on chimpanzees manipulated to develop cancer - Bionomics granted patent on human genes and genetically engineered great apes

2013-08-08 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Opposition filed against patent on 'humanized' apes - A broad coalition against another patent on chimpanzees

2013-03-07 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Opposition filed against patent on chimpanzees - Patent violates ethical boundaries of European patent law

2012-11-15 | Testbiotech
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European Patent Office issues patents on chimpanzees

2012-10-22 | Testbiotech
Resources
Documents
Links
2015-06-01 00:00:00

Stop investment in animal suffering

Patents on animals and new methods in genetic engineering: Economic interests leading to an increasing number of animal experiments
NGO document
2015-06-01 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2015-05-21 00:00:00

Links between selected pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions

NGO document
2015-05-21 00:00:00 | Profundo, Testbiotech
2015-04-27 00:00:00

Letter from Testbiotech to Credit Suisse on Invitation to a conference in Berlin on patents on life, genetic engineering and animal welfare

Correspondence
2015-04-27 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2015-04-27 00:00:00

Letter from Testbiotech to Deutsche Bank on Invitation to a conference in Berlin on patents on life, genetic engineering and animal welfare

Correspondence
2015-04-27 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2015-04-27 00:00:00

Letter from Testbiotech to JP Morgan Chase on Invitation to a Testbiotech conference in Berlin on patents on life, genetic engineering and animal welfare

Correspondence
2015-04-27 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2015-04-27 00:00:00

Letter from Testbiotech to Norwegian Pension Fund on Invitation to a Testbiotech conference on patents on life, genetic engineering and animal welfare

Correspondence
2015-04-27 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2015-04-27 00:00:00

Letter from Testbiotech to UBS on Invitation to a Testbiotech conference on patents on life, genetic engineering and animal welfare

Correspondence
2015-04-27 00:00:00 | Testbiotech
2012-08-01 00:00:00

Intrexon patent on chimeric retinoid x receptors and their use in a novel ecdysone receptor-based inducible gene expression system

EP 1572 862 B1
Company document
2012-08-01 00:00:00
2012-06-13 00:00:00

Altor patent on transgenic animals comprising a humanized immune system

EP 1 409 646 B1
Company document
2012-06-13 00:00:00 | EPO
2012-02-15 00:00:00

Intrexon patent on novel ecdysone receptor/invertebrate retinoid x receptor-based inducible gene expression system

EP 1 456 346 B1
Company document
2012-02-15 00:00:00 | EPO
2011-11-01 00:00:00

Blacklist of European Biotech Patents 2009–2011

NGO document
2011-11-01 00:00:00 | Christoph Then & Ruth Tippe / Testbiotech

Great Ape Project

Keinpatent

Gen-ethisches Netzwerk

Oekologische Forschung

Testbiotech

Legal opposition against patents on chimpanzees

Appeal to international investors: Stop patents on chimpanzees!

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