Intellectual Property and Patent in Stem Cell Research Era

Stem cell therapy has obtained much atten-tion not only for its exceptional promise to cure many chronic disorders and degenerative conditions but also for its great economic potential. Apart from all the expenses in stem cell research laboratories and ongo-ing clinical trials, intellectual properties, patent related to thousands of stem cell differentiation protocols, and stem cell-derived medical products are very expensive to develop and protect(1,2). Significance of intellectual properties and patent for stem cell research Similar as information technology, intellectual properties, and patent will inevitably be an important issue for stem cell research. Before launching a new stem cell clinical trial, many crucial steps are required. These will be some of the milestones of stem cell product development. During each step, there are various stem cell stimulations and differentiation protocols involved. In addition, culture medias an