Towards a harmonisation of EU member state stem cell law
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The disparate legislative approaches of EU member states with regard to stem cell research could soon be en route to convergence, thanks to Germany’s highest court. The Bundesgerichtshof (federal supreme court) has recently referred to the European Court of Justice a case in which the environmental organisation, Greenpeace, challenged a patent granted by the European Patent Office to Oliver Brüstle. The patent concerned a process for producing neuronal or glial progenitor cells. Greenpeace maintained that these would have to be obtained from embryos.