Gene patenting policies affect patient access to testing for disease-causing genes: Study

Gene patenting policies affect patient access to testing for disease-causing genes: Study
7. May 2010 06:19


Policies allowing genes to be patented can make it more difficult for patients to access testing for important disease-causing gene mutations, according to a series of papers in a special online supplement published by Genetics in Medicine, the official peer-reviewed journal of The American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

Two years in the making, the supplement was coincidentally published within days after a landmark court decision that invalidated patents on genes predisposing to breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The special supplement presents a series of in-depth case studies showing how gene licensing and patenting policies affect patient access to testing for disease-causing genes. "The case studies…demonstrate a number of harms that result from gene patents in the diagnostic arena," according to an introductory editorial by Jim Evans, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Genetics in Medicine.

Ruling Against Gene Patents Puts Proper Focus on Benefit to Patients, ACMG Believes
The court decision, handed down in late March, overturns patents on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, which had been held by the U.S. biotechnology company Myriad Genetics. In the decision, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the DNA sequences isolated by the company are "unpatentable products of nature."

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Gene patenting policies affect patient access to testing for disease-causing genes: Study