DOCTORS providing diagnostic gene tests in the US should no longer face the threat of litigation by companies owning patents on those genes. So says a committee advising the US health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, adding that researchers developing improved tests should be exempt too.
Jim Evans of the Secretary鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Genetics, 91色情片 and Society says when the panel examined the availability of gene tests, it found more for conditions such as Huntington鈥檚 disease, cystic fibrosis and colorectal cancer, which don鈥檛 involve patented genes, than for diseases such as breast cancer, which do. More tests increase choice and offer the option of a second opinion, says Evans.
鈥淭here was greater availability of tests that don鈥檛 involve patented genes than those that do鈥�
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The has vehemently objected to the recommendations. By undermining firms鈥� ability to sue violators of their intellectual property, they will deter investors from funding development of new tests and therapies, it warns.The committee as the recommendations apply only to tests, not to gene-based therapies.
If Sebelius does alter the law, it would affect companies such as Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City, Utah, which owns patents on two key breast cancer gene variants and is currently engaged in a court case on the patentability of these genes.
