Patentdirektivet indebærer, som påpeget af Nordiska Samfundet mot Plågsamma Djurförsök, at firmaer kan meddeles monopol på vigtige gener, hvilket kan vanskeliggøre udviklingen af nye lægemidler.
What the Patent Directive means, as the Scandinavian Association against Painful Animal Tests has pointed out, is that a company can gain a monopoly over important genes which could create difficulties for the discovery of new drugs.