Breast cancer gene can not be patented, High Court rules

A Queensland cancer patient will find out on Wednesday if the High Court accepts her challenge against corporations owning human genes.

The structure of the protein produced by the so-called “breast cancer gene”, BRCA1.

A 69-YEAR-OLD Brisbane cancer survivor has won her “David and Goliath” battle with a United States biotech company that wanted to patent the breast cancer gene BRCA1. Grandmother Yvonne D’Arcy, a three-time cancer sufferer, was ecstatic at the ruling, which overturned earlier lower court decisions.

“While the invention claimed may be, in a proper sense, a product of human motion, it was the existence of the knowledge saved within the related sequences that was an important component of the invention”, the judges stated.

The High Court today ruled that BRCA1 was not a “patentable invention” within the meaning of Australia’s Patents Act, which required that something be manufactured.

D’Arcy’s case was previously dismissed by Australia’s Federal Court, which ruled in favor of the two companies holding the patent.

“For all these individuals who do have the genetic footprint for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, any cancer principally, it is a win for them as a result of they’re forewarned”, she stated, including that she anticipated testing would grow to be cheaper and extra obtainable.

But the High Court agreed in February to hear an appeal and Darcy conceded that taking on the USA corporation had appeared an uneven contest.

Myriad Genetics has a patent over the gene known as BRCA1, which is linked to an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers.

“I’m only a little person – but it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”.

There has been concern that the monopoly position of Myriad Genetics stymies research and restricts patient access to tests.

Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania, Dianne Nicol said the High Court decision had broader implications, beyond analysing whether genetic material is patentable matter.

Breast cancer claims a few 458,000 lives every year, with around 1.38 million new cases recorded annually, according to the UN’s World Health Organization.