Two broad patents were issued to GeneType and plans are now being developed to pursue this invention commercially. It is expected to receive very wide acceptance in the western world and become a standard screening test for all pregnancies. HLA Locus Specific Primers - This success offers strong commercial support to the Haplotyping Project. HLA gene sequences, vital to the commercial development of important diagnostic kits, have been identified and protected by GeneType, and the relevant US patent for such primers was granted to GeneType in 1998. Further, it would appear that other reagent companies abroad may wish to employ such primers in their own DNA kits.
Further licenses are likely to be issued in due course.
Market potential GeneType has several strategies to commercially benefit from its patented positions. GeneType can use its own technologies to commercialise various patented positions and develop products to take to the market. This could be in its own right, in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and other parties. GeneType could utilise its own patents to find genes which are significant from a diagnostic viewpoint and then commercially exploit these further discoveries. GeneType suspects that there may be other parties who may wish to incorporate GeneType patent positions into their products.