Copyright on genes

Myriad Genetics: Another case about patients and gene rights

The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of a group of patients, filed a complaint with the US government about the activities of the scientific and medical company Myriad Genetics. The reason was that the company refused to provide full results of testing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes associated with high cancer risks. This is not the first confrontation of Myriad Genetics with the authorities of the country, the company considers the data obtained to be its intellectual property, Nature News reports (Myriad Genetics embedded in breast-cancer data fight — again).

Myriad Genetics explained the refusal by saying that the results of the tests did not reveal any risks to patients. However, the refusal to provide complete data violates the rules approved by the US government for obtaining complete information on the results of research. In particular, one of the patients who was cured of breast cancer said that she would like to give scientists who are developing mechanisms to combat the disease free access to their genetic data.

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented. Then patents for genes that are associated with an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer belonging to Myriad Genetics were challenged by scientists and doctors. According to the court's decision, it is impossible to patent the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes discovered by the company, even though it was research within the company that determined their exact location and sequence, and tests were developed to detect their mutations. Nevertheless, the company said after the trial that it would continue to look for ways to protect its intellectual property.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  26.05.2016