Professor Aisling McMahon delivers online seminar at the Institute of Biomedicine, EURAC on the role of universities in embedding ethical considerations in the licensing of patented health-technologies

Prof Aisling McMahon
Thursday, December 8, 2022 - 09:30

On 30th November, 2022, Prof Aisling McMahon gave an invited online seminar at the Institute of Biomedicine, EURAC Research Centre entitled “Universities, Research Institutes & Public Interests: Embedding ‘Ethical’ Considerations in the Licensing of Patented Technologies related to the Human Body”.

The seminar focused primarily on the role of research institutes and universities in the licensing of patented technologies related to the human body, such as medicines, elements of medical devices, etc. In her presentation, Prof McMahon argued that there is a strong normative case for why such entities should give greater scrutiny to how ethical issues are considered and embedded in the licensing of patented technologies related to the human body developed by such entities. In doing so, she considered two specific avenues for embedding ethical issues within patent licensing, namely, 1) licensing clauses which aim to ensure reasonable access to patented technologies (or so-called socially responsible licensing clauses), and 2) licensing clauses which aim to prohibit specific ethically contentious uses of patented technologies (ethical (use) licensing clauses). In her presentation, Prof McMahon focused in particular on the role universities can and arguably should play in normalising the embedding of ethical considerations within patent licensing for such technologies related to the human body.

This research was conducted as part of the PatentsInHumans project. PatentsInHumans is a five-year interdisciplinary European Research Council funded research project which explores the bioethical implications posed by patents and how they are used on technologies related to the human body. It aims to reconceptualise European patent decision-making to better engage with such bioethical considerations.