Robinson Bradshaw Launches Genomics Law Report

Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, a leading corporate and commercial law firm in the southeast, has launched the Genomics Law Report, an online forum promoting discussion of genomics, personalized medicine and the law.

The report – www.genomicslawreport.com – focuses on the legal implications of important developments in the fields of genomics and personalized medicine, including key litigation, legislative, regulatory and policymaking activities.

“The current pace of innovation in the field of genomics is impressive, and it’s forcing all of us to spend a lot of time thinking about the legal and policy implications of these new technologies as they begin to move from the lab into commerce and clinical care,” said Daniel B. Vorhaus, a corporate attorney whose practice area at the firm includes the emerging field of law surrounding genetic and genomic technologies.

According to Vorhaus, who is a managing editor of the Genomics Law Report and also provides Twitter updates at http://twitter.com/genomicslawyer, the completion of the Human Genome Project earlier this decade was an important milestone for scientists seeking to understand the structure and function of the human genome.

“It was a huge and important project, with much publicity and funding, but in many ways it represented the start of the project to understand the human genome, not the completion,” said Vorhaus.

David J. Clark, a member of the firm’s Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology practice group, agreed: “The pace of technological and scientific innovation has accelerated significantly in the years since the Human Genome Project was completed, and what you’re finally starting to see now is the wide-spread commercialization of that technology and innovation.”

“As these fields have grown, researchers, entrepreneurs and established companies have all enjoyed increasing public and media attention – along with the attention of politicians, regulators and judges, who are bringing a new layer of complexity to an already complicated legal and regulatory framework,” he said.

The Genomics Law Report is designed to enable practitioners, policymakers and the public to track these developments from a legal perspective, and to provide a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. In addition to Vorhaus and Clark, regular Robinson Bradshaw contributors to the Genomics Law Report include Robert M. Bryan, John M. Conley, Adam K. Doerr, Lawrence C. Moore III, Kate E. Payerle and E. Thomas Watson.