Jorge Goldstein: Patenting Life

Patenting Life is the story of the commercialization of biology by pioneer in biotechnology patenting Jorge Goldstein. Read on for a Q&A with the author to learn about how the book came to be, the writing process, and more.

How did this book come to be?

I wanted to write a book explaining the patent system with all of its positive and negative aspects. Many writers on the topic are one-sided. Some praise the great contribution that patents make to innovation, to technological advance, and to the creation of new products and new start-up companies. Others tend to see the system in negative terms: monopolistic high drug prices, manipulative corporations that abuse it by extending patent lives for important drugs, or government giveaways of inventions made with public funds. My plan for this book was to present a more balanced view. The patent system has been created to achieve a delicate equilibrium of public and private interests. I agree that a balanced and well-controlled patent system is crucial for generating innovation in the private sector. But if the balance is not maintained or the system is gamed, bad practices emerge. I hope to convey the idea that we must keep a careful watch over the patent system to prevent it from getting out of balance.

What was the process of writing for a more general audience that may not have your same expertise in the fields of science and law?

As a patent attorney in biotechnology, I am used to simplifying complicated technical things to judges, who may not have specialized scientific or technical knowledge. I have also spent a great deal of my career explaining to scientists aspects of the law with which they are not familiar. And I have discussed law and science with business executives, journalists, or investors who have little familiarity with either. This training forced me to think about similes and metaphors that make the subjects more approachable to folks who are neither familiar with nor wish to learn the scientific or legal jargons. Applying my decades-long experience into writing this book has allowed to me to think of new, and in some cases, more sophisticated ways of explaining complex things to educated and curious readers.

What went into the decision to include personal anecdotes and “protagonists” in Patenting Life?

I belong to a weekly writers’ circle. For several years now, five of us have met on Wednesdays to read and critique each other’s work. After I started sharing ideas and some early chapters of my book, my colleagues in the circle suggested – and I may say, some insisted – that I include personal anecdotes. They also suggested that I try to write about each topic though a human-interest story, naming individual scientists, judges, examiners, company executives, and other lawyers. That way, the magnitude of the legal and scientific changes that I was describing would be told through human protagonists and how they were affected by the developments. I owe a debt of gratitude to my writers’ circle for these suggestions and for their support and belief that I could produce a book that would be of interest to a general audience.

What does the future look like for commercial biology?

While, for the most part, universities continue being the source of our knowledge of fundamental biology, the practical applications of their research are developed by private companies that are willing to invest on risky ideas. These companies expect that the patent system will give them a few years of exclusivity during which to moderate the risk, recoup their investments, and turn a profit. As a consequence, remarkable medicines for cancer, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, continue being invented through the understanding we have gained of how the human immunological system works. New gene therapies to treat congenital diseases such as sickle cell anemia are being developed through the use of CRISPR, the modern gene-editing technology. Improved drought-resistant plants are available through the careful gene engineering of crops that may otherwise go extinct in an era of global warming and drought. New biodegradable plastics that will not pollute our oceans and air are available by the use of biotechnology. The future for commercial biology is bright and unstoppable.