The commercial roots of the genomic commons

Accounts of the origins of the genomic commons typically focus on the development of public repositories and data-sharing agreements. This article tells a different story. During the 1990s in the United States, efforts of private companies to prevent the patenting of certain kinds of DNA sequences were essentially a conservative response to shifts in the sociotechnical constitution of the pharmaceutical innovation system, and to the operation of intellectual property as one of the key knowledge control regimes that regulate that system. In this context, the idea of ‘the commons’ was rehabilitated from earlier tragic theorizations to argue that industry’s ability to deliver new pharmaceutical products would be better served if certain kinds of intellectual property were left in the public domain. The genomic commons is not a neutral space of disinterested scientific research that naturally aligns with some abstract ‘public good’, but is part of an innovation system that has evolved to serve the interests of a range of stakeholders, among which the big pharmaceutical companies enjoy a dominant position.