Charles Auffray

Title: Redefining intellectual property in the transition from genomics to systems medicine

High-throughput technologies for DNA sequencing and for analyses of transcriptomes, proteomes and metabolomes are advancing rapidly, providing the foundations for deciphering the structure, variation and function of the human genome of a large number of individuals, and relating them to their health and disease states. The wealth of data produced is being analyzed and modelled using increasingly powerful computational and mathematical tools enabling the development of systems approaches for deciphering the functional and regulatory networks underlying the behaviour of complex biological systems in normal and perturbed conditions. Systems biology approaches are beginning to transform the way diagnostic tests and novel drugs that target multiple components of networks and pathways perturbed in diseases are developed. They will enable medicine to become predictive, personalized, preventive and participatory. The development of an international network of systems biology and medicine centres would facilitate the transition from genomics to systems medicine and help reduce the gap in healthcare between developed and developing countries. In order to overcome the bottlenecks that limit the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products, academic and industrial researchers, patient organizations and charities, and regulatory and funding institutions should redefine the basis for a more open and efficient sharing of the knowledge collected in large-scale clinical and experimental studies, which are often poorly designed and exploited. In the process, it will be essential that the basic elements of description of biological systems should remain available to all, and that the requirements for granting intellectual property rights rely on the clear demonstration of useful applications.

Systems medicine: the future of medical genomics and healthcare
Auffray, C., Chen, Z. and Hood, L. (2009) Genome Medicine 1:2.

Sharing knowledge: a new frontier for public-private partnerships in medicine
Auffray, C. (2009) Genome Medicine 1:29.