Whether or not DNA sequences are subject to trade secrecy protections is the critical question examined by Professor Jacob Sherkow in his latest article, published in the Hastings Law Journal. Despite decades of scholarship assuming DNA sequences would be subject to protection, recent research has suggested this assumption was incorrect. Sherkow explores why DNA sequences might not be protected as well as the implications of this change.
Professor Jacob Sherkow is one of only five University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors to be named a University Scholar in recognition of his excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.
The scholars program recognizes faculty excellence and provides $15,000 to each scholar for three years to enhance their academic careers. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes.
“The University Scholars program celebrates the remarkable achievements of the named individuals,” said Nicholas Jones, the University of Illinois System’s executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs. “Our faculty represent the strong foundation of the world-class academic experience that contributes to the betterment of society and draws students and researchers to the U. of I. System universities from across the globe. The University Scholars are exemplars of that faculty excellence.
“When you consider the diversity of scholarship across all three of our universities and the standards of academic excellence that we nurture and grow through our recruitment of esteemed educators and researchers, all of our University Scholar recipients should be deservedly proud of the honor.”
Professor Jacob Sherkow is one of the authors of a chapter in the new book “COVID-19 and the Law,” published by Cambridge University Press. The chapter examines the ways in which aspects of health law such as food and drug regulation, healthcare reimbursement, and direct research and development subsidies encouraged and impeded new technologies in the fight against COVID-19. The authors sought to provide insight to highlight important lessons for policymakers in order to better prepare for the next pandemic.
The dispute over who invented CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing is headed to federal appellate court, and Politico turned to Professor Jacob Sherkow to help sort out the details. He expects the case will return to patent court and may result in changes to the licensing fees collected. “Absolutely none of this under any reasonable interpretation is going to change what the retail sticker cost of these drug therapies are going to be — not by a dollar, not by a cent,” Sherkow added.
Illinois Law professor and IP expert Jacob Sherkow spoke to Nature Biotechnology about the recent Tome Biosciences acquisition of Replace Therapeutics to enhance their gene editing capabilities. The article discusses the surge of prime editing deals in biotechnology as companies seek to secure patent rights and avoid intellectual property conflicts. The industry is seeing mergers and partnerships driven by the need for access to patented technologies. Sherkow highlighted the importance of IP rights in these deals, stating, “It is an absolute gobsmacking sum of money. And that is something that is worth thinking about as to whether or not that is a lesson for others in the field.”
Professor Jacqueline E. Ross was awarded the 2024 Wayne R. LaFave Award for Scholarly Excellence for her book “Making Sense of Youth Crime: A Comparison of Police Intelligence in the United States and France,” (Cambridge University Press, 2023) co-authored with Thierry Delpeuch of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. This award was established in 2002 by Michael Moore, the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Chair, and Heidi Hurd, the Ross and Helen Workman Chair in Law. The award was established in honor of Professor Wayne LaFave, whose remarkable scholarly legacy in criminal law and procedure is best honored through the recognition of work that is of matching ambition and importance.
Professor Jacob S. Sherkow was awarded the 2024 Carroll P. Hurd Award for Scholarly Excellence for his article “The Antibody Patent Paradox,” Yale Law Journal (2023), co-authored with Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School. The Carroll P. Hurd Award for Scholarly Excellence was established in 2002, also by Michael Moore and Heidi Hurd, in honor of Carroll Parsons Hurd, whose work as a political theorist and lawyer elevated theoretical curiosity and intellectual rigor above all other virtues.
The famous system of breaking down legal analyses into ordered subparts, Issue-Rule-Analysis-Conclusion, needs an updated focus on the last part, according to Professor Jacob Sherkow. In his new paper, available for download on SSRN, he argues that lawyers need to be experts in conclusions, writing “good conclusions – clear, reasonable, workable, plausible, probable conclusions – are the product of a variety of skills one hopes law students develop during their studies, including case synthesis as tested by the IRAC method and its siblings.”
Professor Jacob Sherkow was invited to speak at the “Regulation of Innovative Health Technologies Workshop,” which took place at the leading Centre for Law and Genetics, University of Tasmania, from November 23-25, 2023. As part of the workshop, Sherkow was the organizer of a session examining patents as regulators of innovative health technologies. The international workshop was attended by leading global health regulation and intellectual property rights scholars to discuss issues at the cutting edge of how we develop, regulate and deliver access to innovative health technologies.
“I would be surprised, bluntly, if [a lawsuit] does not get filed by the end of this year,” Professor Jacob Sherkow told Politico about the patent battle over CRISPR technology. When the FDA issued approval for the therapy in sickle cell cases, it granted approval to companies that do not hold licenses for CRISPR. As Sherkow explained, the Broad Institute holds the U.S. patent on editing human cells with CRISPR and can sue companies that don’t have licenses for their patents for infringement as soon as a new product comes on the market, which is certain to happen following FDA approval.
Approval for Vertex Pharmaceutical’s sickle cell treatment using CRISPR technology has brought use of the gene-editing therapy to a “collision point,” according to Professor Jacob Sherkow. Speaking to the MIT Technology Review, Sherkow explained how the patent on editing human cells using CRISPR is owned by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, not Vertex, which will almost certainly result in a lawsuit. With a potential market in the tens of billions, Sherkow believes a lawsuit is inevitable.