Competitivity Issues Related to Biobank Activity

Abstract

The recent development of biomedical research and greater attention to the use of human bio-material has led to an increase in the number of studies devoted to biobanks. In considering the question of whether a biobank can be subject to insolvency, the present article discusses multiple points of view related to the legal status of biobanks according to which they are perceived either as an object or subject of law. From an analysis of the various organizational forms of biobank activity, the author argues that biobanks should be considered as subjects of law. Here considerations include accessing financial support from government, municipal, and other sources, the possibility of carrying out income-generating activities, mechanisms for the protection of obtained bio-material, the monitoring requirement related to entities carrying out such activities, and the possibility of recognizing such entities as insolvent. Based on the results of this research (including an analysis of the experience of foreign countries), the permissible organizational-legal forms that biobanks are instantiated, namely, public corporations, public-law companies, institutions, and public benefit funds. Because of the sensitivities involved, it is argued that such organizations should be of a non-profit character. In the light of the research question, special attention is paid to the form of a consortium. Due to the impossibility of liquidating the assets of biobank organizations in order to meet the claims of creditors, it is argued that such organizations cannot be declared insolvent.