More than a Number: The Effect of Gene Patents on Medical Research in the United States of America and Nigeria

Event Description

The study of human genes has led to a better understanding of the human mind, mental health issues, and drugs and treatments. It is also lucrative, in large part because of the possibility of commercializing research inventions through patents. There is, therefore, a relationship between the study of genes and intellectual property rights, particularly patents. This thesis explores this relationship and attempts to answer whether and how gene patents affect medical research. My work analyzes whether gene patents affect medical research using case studies from the United States of America (a developed country) and Nigeria (a developing country). As part of this project, I examine whether gene patents affect how medical research data is shared within and between developed and developing countries. I also examine whether gene patents pose unique challenges to medical research collaborations between developing countries like Nigeria and developed countries like the USA.

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Speaker

Chinenye Helen Eze is a recipient of the Allard Law School Doctoral scholarship, the UBC four-year doctoral fellowship, and the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Her areas of specialization are Intellectual property and information technology law. Her current research focuses on the effect of Intellectual property laws on medical research and data in the United States of America and Nigeria. She has been public on open-access websites and has presented her works in workshops in Canada and the United States.