But the industry is split on how secretive companies should be about their hard-won data, and on the terms on which others should be allowed to use them. The most controversial issue is access to important DNA sequences. Publicly funded bodies and institutes around the world have agreed to publish immediately anv gene sequences-partial or complete they discover. This policy, which they reaffirmed in March at a conference in Bermuda organised bv Britain's Wellcome Trust, is essential for making progress in research, they say. Besides the trust itself, organisations that uphold this principle include the NIH's National Center for Human Genome Research, the European Commission, the Human Genome Organisation and Britain's Medical Research Council.
Some private organisations are equally open about their gene sequences.
The company believes that giving an army of academics access to its gene data is a more economical way of getting further useful results than doing all the work itself. Other companies take a different view. Human Genome Sciences, based ill Rockville, Maryland, and Incyte Pharmaceuticals of Palo Alto, California, impose strict conditions on access to their privately generated treasure chests of genetic data. HGS insists its policy is justified. But it doesn't mean people should stop working on the whole gene.