Genes not to be patented: U.S. judge

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A judge in U.S. Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that two breast and ovarian cancer related genes were not to be patented since they are nature's products, reports said Wednesday.

Human gene map. (Xinhua/File Photo)

Seven patents on the genes held by Myriad Genetics of Utah were not valid, the judge Robert W. Sweet declared.

Over the past two decades, academic researchers and private companies have claimed patents on more than 4,300 human genes.

With patents of BRCA1 and BRCA2, two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer, Myriad allowed researchers to test anonymous specimens.

However, if individuals sought to know if they carried the mutations that raised risks for breast and ovarian cancer, Myriad insisted that only its labs test them, at a cost of 3,000 dollars, according to Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of molecular genetics at NYU Langone Medical Center.

In Canada, where the patent is not honored, the test is available for under 1,000 dollars, Judge Sweet noted.

In 2009, patients, doctors and an association of pathologists sued to challenge the Myriad patents.

Dr. Ostrer, a plaintiffs, said that patients needed more than the Myriad test to inform them of their risks, because it identifies only the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but a number of other genes are also associated with a risk for cancer.

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Myriad defended itself by claiming the patents allowed its investors to make their money back. Moreover, it argued, by isolating the genes in the laboratory, it had created chemicals that did not exist in nature -- a critical test for patents.

Judge Sweet rejected that argument, deciding that a gene is a gene, whether it is inside a human cell or in a test tube.