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Content archived on 2024-05-29

Stem Cell Patents: European Patent Law and Ethics

Objective

Stem cell research, and embryonic stem cell research in particular, offers the prospect of developing new therapies for serious or life-threatening diseases. But for the potential offered by stem cell research to be realized into therapeutic products, industrial or commercial investment is required. At the same time, embryonic stem cell research raises difficult and controverted moral questions which are reflected in the variety of moral perspectives and regulatory regimes already adopted or currently being developed in EU member States which vary from total prohibition to qualified authorization in varying forms and degrees. The diversity of legal regimes regulating embryonic stem cell research in Europe together with the subsidiary principle which devolves competency on legislation concerning ethical questions to members States, has created uncertainty as to the legal scope of the moral exclusion clause in Article 6 of Directive 98/44EC of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. Clarification on the scope of the Directive is essential to foster research and investment in Europe whilst ensuring that such research is conducted within clear ethical limits which address the concerns of society. The project aims to provide an analysis of the EU patent system, as applied to biotechnological inventions in general and to embryonic stem cell related technology in particular with a view to ascertain the legal effect of ethical or legal divergence on European patent law. The multi-faceted nature of the question raised requires the combined efforts of experts from different disciplines to contribute to the coordination, analysis and dissemination of knowledge in this area. The multidisciplinary character of the Consortium is intended to bring the required breadth and depth of expertise to bear on the project.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP6-2003-LIFESCIHEALTH-I
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SSA - Specific Support Action

Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
EU contribution
No data
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (4)

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