Aggregated News
Companies do not have the right to a patent over human gene sequences and genetic mutations because such biological material is a product of nature, a court has been told.
The patient advocacy group Cancer Voices has launched landmark legal action against two biotechnology companies that hold patents over a genetic mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer, known as BRCA1.
The Federal Court has been asked for the first time to decide if patents granted over segments of human DNA are valid.
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The US biotech company Myriad Genetics and the exclusive Australian licensee, Genetic Technologies, have a monopoly right to control the use of the BRCA1 mutation for research and development as well as diagnostic testing.
It was granted on the basis that the process of isolating the gene from the human body in a laboratory constituted an "invention".
In 2008, Genetic Technologies threatened to invoke its patent by ordering all other laboratories to stop performing BRCA1 diagnostic testing but withdrew after a public backlash. The patent is enforced in the US.
Rebecca Gilsenan, from...
The patient advocacy group Cancer Voices has launched landmark legal action against two biotechnology companies that hold patents over a genetic mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer, known as BRCA1.
The Federal Court has been asked for the first time to decide if patents granted over segments of human DNA are valid.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The US biotech company Myriad Genetics and the exclusive Australian licensee, Genetic Technologies, have a monopoly right to control the use of the BRCA1 mutation for research and development as well as diagnostic testing.
It was granted on the basis that the process of isolating the gene from the human body in a laboratory constituted an "invention".
In 2008, Genetic Technologies threatened to invoke its patent by ordering all other laboratories to stop performing BRCA1 diagnostic testing but withdrew after a public backlash. The patent is enforced in the US.
Rebecca Gilsenan, from...