§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
In respect of how many human gene sequences has the Medical Research Council applied for patents to the UK Patent Office.
§ Baroness Denton of WakefieldThe Medical Research Council has made a well-publicised application to the UK Patent Office with the titleHuman Nucleic Acid Fragmants and Their Use (Application No. 9214857.6, filed on 13th July 1992). Under the terms of the Patents Act 1977 details of this application cannot be divulged until it is published, which would normally be 18 months from the date of application.