A myriad gene worries

Till the famously gorgeous Angelina Jolie startled the world two weeks ago by disclosing that she had had both her breasts removed owing to concerns about a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, few people here would have paid attention to a momentous case on gene patenting in the US. Jolie decided to undergo a double mastectomy after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation which puts her at high risk of developing breast cancer.

The tests for such a predisposition are the property of US firm Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation which hold the patents on the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes that are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The firm also has patents on methods of interpreting genetic test results and testing anti-cancer drug efficacy. Four years ago, Myriad’s monopoly was challenged in a lawsuit that raised a fundamental question: is the discovery of a gene itself a patentable invention and can human genes be patented at all? Although such patents have been granted over the past two decades, it was the Myriad case that challenged human gene patenting for the first time.