Accompanied by a provocative press release, “Who Owns Your Genes?”, the ACLU and the Patent Foundation, a Cardoza Law School-affiliated non-profit, have filed a lawsuit against Myriad Genetics, which shockingly holds a patent on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer. In the last two decades, private companies and universities have acquired the patent to 20% of the human genome. Intuitively, there doesn’t seem to be any reason private companies should be able to patent genes commonly found in nature, but we’ll address that topic in full later on.
The consequences of these patents are significant. Patent owners have the exclusive right to test and study these genes, and can potentially sue a doctor who removes your genes to examine them. This lawsuit arises over Myriad Genetic’s patent of BRCA1 and BRCA2, two genes normally responsible for the growth of breast cells. When these genes contain certain mutations, however, a woman’s risk of acquiring ovarian cancer increases 60%, and her risk of acquiring breast cancer increases 40-85% (American Cancer Society). Ideally, women with a family history of these cancers should test for whether they have these genes, so that they can plan their medical future appropriately.
Because they own the patent, Myriad is the gatekeeper for women who want genetic tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2, and an expensive gatekeeper at that, charging over $3,000. Plaintiffs in the case complain about Myriad’s refusal to work with their health insurance providers. Because of Myriad’s stranglehold over the patent, even when women are able to obtain tests, they have no recourse for a second opinion when they receive ambiguous test results. The ACLU is thus representing women’s health group, individuals and associations representing over 150,000 scientists.
The ACLU is not messing around. Their lawsuit challenges the very notion of gene patenting, and would undue decades of commercial and legal practice. Tomorrow I will discuss some of the legal issues. We’ll of course be following the case as it develops- but for the non-lawyers out there, cases like this will move painfully slowly.
This morning I noticed that the progressive website, DailyKos, was sporting this lawsuit as their top banner advertisement. The ad takes you to www.aclu.org/brca, where you can read the press release, the complaint, and sign a statement of support.
The lawsuit is Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al., and it was filed this May in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. .
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