Breast Cancer Gene Lawsuit Argues Patents Invalid

bkuhn writes "The ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation have filed a lawsuit charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are unconstitutional and invalid. The lawsuit (PDF) was filed on behalf of four scientific organizations representing more than 150,000 geneticists, pathologists, and laboratory professionals, as well as individual researchers, breast cancer and women's health groups, and individual women. Individuals with certain mutations along these two genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are at a significantly higher risk for developing hereditary breast and ovarian cancers."

Comments

Re:I don't understand it.

[click2005]

IANAwhatever but I thought what was patented was the way these genes are found/isolated. Any drug/treatment that affects these genes will use that method.

Michael Crichton would be pleased

[Supp0rtLinux]

Michael Crichton just popped up in his casket and gave these guys a huge HIGH 5

Michael Crichton's Gene Patenting Rant

Re:I don't understand it.

[starfire-1]

I have a sneaking suspicion that you are right - this isn't about the gene itself, but how to isolate/observe, etc. That process could very well be an invention and it certainly cost R&D money to the original developer.

I guess the question comes down to whether patent protection for health related concerns should be exempted as some (not myself) consider health care a right (I consider it a need and responsibility to procure, but not a right that I expect others to provide for me.)

The plaintiffs are clearly attempting to use this case to overturn all health related patents (in the article) and in my opinion pull health related research from the private sector to the public sector. This would bolster the advocates of national health care and create another (unwritten) constitutional right.

Re:I don't understand it.

[giminy]

Can someone explain to me why it's legal to patent genes in the first place? I thought patents were supposed to be for new and unique inventions.

You don't patent the gene, you patent the process of identifying and using knowledge about the gene.

The reason that it's legal to 'patent genes' is that is very, very, very (did I mention very?) expensive to discover which gene(s) control an aspect of a plant or animal. My girlfriend is a molecular scientist, so I get to hear about her research woes all of the time. Without some protection of a genetic discovery, it makes no financial sense for a company to actually do the research and discover which genes control an aspect of a plant or animal's composition. A discovery takes at least 5-6 years of research from several researchers, associated support staff, and requires some fairly expensive equipment.

There seems to be a lot of people calling Myriad a big, evil, genetic patent holding corporation. All that I can say is, look at their financials. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year doing genetic research, and they make very little money in return for their investment. When I last examined their financials (beginning of 2008 I think), they had been operating at a loss since they went public. They are advancing human knowledge quite a bit, and they will probably go out of business for it within a few years. I posted their financials to slashdot some time ago (feel free to look up their tax forms, they're a publicly traded company). In 2007, they reported a huge operating loss and came out and said in their disclosure that they are in business because of continued shareholder investment.

I, for one, see genetic patents as a necessary evil. If someone or some company is going to take the time and money to make a genetic discovery, they ought to be given some time to try and profit from that discovery. Genetic sequencing is not a quick nor an easy task -- there's a lot more to it than just throwing some genes in the PCR machine and pushing the 'sequence' button. For what it's worth, my girlfriend is also a likely candidate of the BRCA1 gene, as every female in her family that has been tested for it, has it. She is still okay with genetic patents. And no, we're not cold, heartless capitalists...we shop at the co-op, have a garden, brew our own beer, make our own biodiesel, and do all the things that good hippies should do...it's just that without Myriad, *no one* would know that having the BRCA1 gene was a precursor to breast cancer.

Reid