barbara
11-01-2010, 01:13 PM
By Jef Akst
1 November 2010
The Scientist
The US government announced on Friday (October 29) that researchers should not be able to patent genes because they are ?products of nature.? This decision, which overturns the long-standing policy that genes are eligible for patents, could have a ?huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry,? according to the New York Times.
The controversy about whether or not to patent genes arose over a 1998 patent for the breast cancer gene BRCA1. According to a study published last May in the journal Genomics, the patent should never have been granted, since it allowed the patent holder, a biotech company called Myriad Genetics, to establish a US monopoly on genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer risk. The latest action came in the form of a ?friend-of-the-court? brief filed by the Department of Justice, and contradicts the long-time policy of the patent office and the National Institutes of Health.
1 November 2010
The Scientist
The US government announced on Friday (October 29) that researchers should not be able to patent genes because they are ?products of nature.? This decision, which overturns the long-standing policy that genes are eligible for patents, could have a ?huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry,? according to the New York Times.
The controversy about whether or not to patent genes arose over a 1998 patent for the breast cancer gene BRCA1. According to a study published last May in the journal Genomics, the patent should never have been granted, since it allowed the patent holder, a biotech company called Myriad Genetics, to establish a US monopoly on genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer risk. The latest action came in the form of a ?friend-of-the-court? brief filed by the Department of Justice, and contradicts the long-time policy of the patent office and the National Institutes of Health.