Santa Rosa Institute CEO Dr. Edward Westhead offered testimony at this week's congressional hearings concerning the future of gene patents and the Patent and Trademark Office's (PTO) proposed new guidelines.

"Patents are the lifeblood of the biotech industry and are crucial to spurring innovation and providing incentive to companies to make the necessary significant investments to bring drugs to market," said Dr. Westhead at the hearings. "The proposed PTO guidelines creates an impractical standard for biotechnology companies in requiring demonstration of biological function and use. We believe that these guidelines will stifle the further pursuit of new innovative therapies by the biotechnology industry and punish those that are successful in that pursuit."

About the Santa Rosa Institute

The Santa Rosa Institute, winner of the U.S. National Medal of Technology, is a leading biotechnology company that discovers and develops human pharmaceuticals for significant unmet medical needs. The company has its headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico.