Should scientists and major companies be able to patent cells?

I don't think that companies should have the right to patent cells. In the afterword section of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot there is a section about this, "This means pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and universities control what research can be done on those genes, and how much resulting therapies and diagnostic tests will cost" (323). This means that these groups can charge very unreasonable amounts of cash so that no one can create a cure for certain disease and monopolize the industry.


 Rebecca Skloot. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Broadway Books, 2010. Print.