Patents and public health. European institutions are challenging Myriad Genetics's patent monopoly on the brca1 gene.

Abstract

An increasing number of international research and governmental institutions are challenging several gene patents, arguing that the patent holders’ absolute control of diagnostic methods is not in the public's best interests. Most notably, the Institut Curie, a cancer research centre in Paris, is leading the fight against Myriad Genetics, a US biotechnology company that plans to install a monopoly on all genetic work associated with the breast and ovarian cancer predisposition gene brca1 . The critics of Myriad's wide‐ranging patent rights maintain that the company's absolute control not only prohibits further research on the diagnosis of and therapies against breast cancer, but also has a detrimental effect on public health. Physician examining mammographs. ![][1] > Critics of Myriad's wide‐ranging patent rights maintain that it not only prohibits further research on diagnostics and therapies but also has a detrimental effect on public health Since the European Commission adopted a directive allowing human genes to be patented in July 1998, many such patents have been granted and indeed challenged, including the battles over the insulin, relaxin and hematopoietin genes. In 2001, seven years after Myriad Genetics first identified the sequence of brca1 , the European Patent Office (EPO) granted the company three patents covering all potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications based on the gene's sequence. Several European research centres and associations quickly contested the first two patents in an attempt to fight Myriad's monopoly. More recently, in August 2002, the Institut Curie, the Institut Gustave‐Roussy, the Assistance‐Publique‐Hopitaux de Paris together with almost all European genetics societies and many scientific institutions and governments turned up the heat and filed a joint opposition notice to the third patent. As this protects the isolated gene and the corresponding protein, and includes all imaginable future therapeutic uses, such as gene therapy and screening of drugs or transgenic animals, … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif