The US Supreme Court is about to hear
arguments in a case challenging patents on breast and ovarian cancer
genes. If the court upholds the company’s right to patent human genes,
the course of US medical research could forever be altered.
The case involves the Utah biotech firm
Myriad Genetics, which for years has been facing a lawsuit for placing
patents on human genes and restricting cancer patients’ treatment
options.
The molecular diagnostic company, which
is based in Salt Lake City, holds a number of patents on genes related
to breast cancer and ovarian cancer, two of which US District Court
Judge Robert W. Sweet ruled invalid in 2010, the decision that Myriad
appealed. The genes in question, BRCA1 an BRCA2, often appear in cancer
patients, sometimes before the cancer has even developed. With methods
to diagnose these genes patented by Myriad Genetics, patients are unable
to go to any other doctors for a second opinion before seeking
treatment.
“Myriad is gate-keeping who can do what
research on these genes and they are uniquely aggressive in how they
control a patent,” Karuna Jagger, executive director of Breast Cancer
Action, told The Guardian. As a result of Myriad’s gene-ownership, other
doctors and researchers are unable to develop alternate tests or
treatment options, thereby giving cancer patients very few options.
Women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have
no other options aside from taking the Myriad test, which is expensive
and not always covered by insurance. Breast cancer survivors are
expected to speak before the Supreme Court next week, where they will
talk about the costs of the $3,000 tests that their health insurances
did not cover.
“The Supreme Court has the opportunity to
right this wrong, to correct a problem that could free up human
genomics to develop new diagnostic tests,” Jagger said.
A coalition of cancer survivors,
scientists, cancer patients, medical associations and support groups
have expressed their outrage at the biotech firm for patenting parts of
the human body, which they say are “products of nature” and should not
be financially exploited. The group claims that the patents violate the
First Amendment by restricting the free exchange of ideas on human body
parts.
Runi Limary, a 36-year-old breast cancer
survivor, told USA TODAY that one of the patented genes showed up in her
body when she was 28. Suspecting ovarian cancer, she debated having her
ovaries removed, but couldn’t get a second opinion because Myriad held a
patent on the mutated gene that she developed.
“It’s so frustrating,” she said. “I’m really trying to buy time until I’m 40.”
Limary has not yet had her ovaries
removed, since doing so would diminish her ability to have children. She
claims that if Myriad didn’t have a patent on the mutated gene, she
could seek better treatment options and medical advice.
In its defense, Myriad argues that
without the ability to have such patents, which financially sustain the
industry, research and development would dry up. But patent-opponents
claim that the resulting competition would cause medical bills to go
down in price and lead to greater scientific discoveries.
“It’s about the future of personalized
medicine for every single human being on this planet, and actually
animals too,” Ellen Matloff, director of cancer genetic counseling at
Yale School of Medicine, told USA TODAY.
Currently, about 20 percent of the 4,000
genes found in the human body are already covered by a patent, including
some linked to colon cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Some patents are
owned by research institutions that try to prevent large corporations
from using them for profit.
The Supreme Court ruling on Myriad’s
patents could affect the entire medical industry. The court will
ultimately decide whether or not human genes can be ‘owned’ by
corporations, which continues to encourage a race towards discovering
them, while also limiting research after their discovery.
“You have to ask, how is it possible that
my doctor cannot look at my DNA without being concerned about patent
infringement?” Christopher Mason, assistant professor at Weill Medical
College, told The Guardian.
But in order to strike down Myriad’s
patents, the Supreme Court would likely have to rule against a law that
has already allowed about a thousand human genes to become patented – a
landmark decision that would overhaul the US medical research system.
Source:
RT
http://worldtruth.tv/
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