23andMe’s ‘designer baby’ patent sparks controversy

Personal genomics company 23andMe has received a patent covering its Family Traits Inheritance Calculator tool that lets prospective parents see what traits their children may inherit.

Filed in 2008, US patent 8,543,339 covers “gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations”.

Critics fear the technology will be used to select inherited features, such as hair and eye colour, to create ‘designer babies’.

The Center for Genetics and Society has called for 23andMe to abstain from developing or offering any product based on the patent, which it finds would be “highly irresponsible.”

California-based 23andMe gives customers an overview of their health and ancestry by analysing the DNA provided in a saliva sample. It also offers its service to healthcare companies that can use the technology to find disease pathways and identify novel drug targets.

In a blog post, it said the patent was only intended to cover the technology that supports the Family Traits Inheritance Calculator, “but the language of the patent extends beyond the calculator and so we want to be very clear about our technology and our intentions.”

It added that at the time of the filing, the company considered the technology’s potential implications for fertility clinics, though since then “much has evolved”, including the company’s strategic focus.

“The company never pursued the concepts discussed in the patent beyond our Family Traits Inheritance Calculator, nor do we have any plans to do so,” the blog said.

Jason Rutt, a partner from Rouse in London, who discussed the matter with Rouse patent attorneys Charles Huang, Paul Briscoe and Dayle Callaghan, said that the case raises many interesting questions to speculate on.

23andMe chose not to file the patent at the European Patent Office (EPO), which Rutt predicts would object to the patent for being an invention ‘contrary to morality and ordre public’: “This is a broad term that patent offices can interpret as they wish … however guidance in this area has been provided by the biotech directive,” he said.