In a letter from the Human Genome Project made public earlier this week, the government complained that Celera's president, J. Craig Venter, has ducked efforts to strike a public-private agreement. Celera is expected to beat the Human Genome Project in the race to sequence the entire human genome and create a store of data that could help scientists produce new, potent medicines. However, the two sides have periodically talked in general terms about collaborating in order to complete the enormous task more efficiently and accurately. We continue to be interested in pursuing good-faith discussions toward collaboration,' Dr. Venter wrote in the letter addressed to Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, which runs the U.S. part of the international genome project. At issue is nothing more or less than giving scientists around the world access to the richest-ever trove of genetic data.
Genomes are complete sets of chromosomes, which in turn contain an organism's genes.
Conn. Celera is worried that competing gene-hunting firms will repackage Celera's data and sell it as their own. In his letter, Dr. Venter says Celera wants to make its data freely available, but only with some assurance that the company will retain some proprietary rights so competitors can't repackage and resell it. For its part, the Human Genome Project is worried that Celera's exclusive rights would undermine the notion of a truly public database. Government officials think other biotech companies that may have developed innovative ways to interpret gene data have a right to get access to the genome sequence once it is completed. The two sides are far apart on how best to work this out.