WARF stem-cell patents challenged
DAVID WAHLBERG dwahlberg@madison.com 608-252-6125
A California consumer watchdog group Tuesday asked the federal government to overturn three stem-cell patents held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
The challenge, over patents based on work by UW-Madison scientist James Thomson, could threaten WARF's financial windfall from stem-cell research and its prominence in the emerging field.
Thomson is widely credited with being the first person to successfully grow human embryonic stem cells in the lab, in 1998.
The Los Angeles-based nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, involved in California's new $3 billion stem-cell research initiative, filed requests asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine the patents.
