Hwang's Patented Fraud and New Questions about STAP Cells
Jaws dropped around the globe last week when the U.S. Patent Office awarded Patent No. 8,647,872 to Hwang Woo-Suk and 15 Korean co-workers. The patent concerns a "human embryonic stem cell line prepared by nuclear transfer of a human somatic cell into an enucleated human oocyte." The astonishing part is that the whole world knows he faked it. More precisely, he faked some of the data in the papers originally published in Science in February, 2004 and May, 2005, both of which were formally retracted in January, 2006.
Hwang's motto at the time appeared to be "fake it til you make it," and he never withdrew the patent application. (He also committed numerous other ethical and financial crimes.) Indeed, he still claims that he succeeded in cloning human blastocysts and deriving embryonic stem cells.
By a strange coincidence, there are now swirling rumors about the STAP stem cells that drew attention earlier this month. The RIKEN research institute at which Haruko Obokata is based has launched an investigation into possible irregularities, following revelations of partially duplicated images, unearthed by anonymous bloggers.
That is exactly how Hwang's fraud was first discovered. Anonymous Korean scientists examined the images in his published work and noted anomalies on blogs. One is pictured, showing that a supposedly clonal stem cell was pictured in the same culture dish as one obtained from a fertilized egg. Soon, other bloggers picked apart the DNA analysis that purportedly proved the match with specific patients. Finally, Seoul National University (SNU) conducted a rigorous analysis that definitively established the frauds.
The STAP work is brand new, and at least some of the controversy may be normal post-publication review. Obakata and colleagues have admitted to "mistakes" with the images, but blamed late edits and her "extremely heavy workload." Still, other researchers do seem to be having difficulty duplicating the experiments, and informed opinion seems to be moving away from accepting the published results.
But what on earth is going on with the award of a patent for faked work? Jeanne Loring, the leading ESC specialist who has been deeply involved in challenging the stem cell patents held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), explains:
My challenge of the WARF patents made me learn a great deal about patents and patent law, and trust me, the principles you cherish as scientists simply don't apply for patents. The fact is that Hwang’s patent could impede further work on SCNT hESCs. The patent owners may demand a licensing fee for use of any SCNT hESCs and collect royalties on any commercial application of SCNT hESCs. This is not out of the realm of possibility: those are the terms that WARF imposed on blastocyst-derived hESCs, but at least those were real.
New Scientist (which is actually cited in the Hwang Patent) noted in 2006 that Hwang could still get his patent in some jurisdictions, or at least establish permanent prior disclosure. Indeed, Canada actually awarded Hwang a patent in 2011, though the general view, even in Korea, was that no other country would. Besides, if the method doesn't work, what's the point? That's part of the reason that SNU, which fired Hwang, dropped their efforts to patent the technology; they do not seem to have commented on the latest news.
But Hwang's incentive is much greater. As is his wont nowadays, he leaves the talking to others, in this case Prof. Hyun Sang-hwan at Chungbuk National University, described as "one of Hwang's closest aides." He told the Korea Herald:
"The patent is important because it officially confirms that the NT-1 is a human embryonic stem."
(Well, not really, but it certainly sounds good.) Getting to the heart of the matter, Hyun told the Korea Times:
"The USPTO acknowledged the technological edge of Hwang's team, which means something in consideration of the global scientific leadership of the U.S. Against this backdrop, I sincerely hope the government will allow Hwang to restart work on cloned human embryos. It's a pity that a scientist with very advanced technology cannot work on them."
Reasonable people can certainly disagree.
Previously on Biopolitical Times:
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