Patenting of genes: Cancer patients raise protest

Imagine getting a test based on your genes that can help you determine whether you are at increased risk for ovarian cancer. Now you get a postive test, and given that a cancer is a pretty serious illness, you would like to get a second option, a second test from a different company so that you can be sure (and getting a second opinion is a pretty normal step when dealing with medical issues). However, there is a problem in this area - the US Government allowed a single company to get a patent on 2 genes that are associated with an enhanced risk for breast and ovarian cancer, as well as testing related to this risk. Now this patent is being challenged (link to article):

When Genae Girard received a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2006, she knew she would be facing medical challenges and high expenses. But she did not expect to run into patent problems. On Tuesday, Girard, 39, who lives in the Austin, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Myriad and the Patent Office, challenging the decision to grant a patent on a gene to Myriad and companies like it. She was joined by four other cancer patients, by professional organizations of pathologists and by several genetic experts.
“With a sole provider, there’s mediocrity,” said Wendy Chung, the director of clinical genetics at Columbia University and a plaintiff in the case. Chung and others involved with the suit do not accuse Myriad of being a poor steward of the information concerning the two genes at issue in the suit, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, but they argue that BRCA testing would improve if market forces were allowed to work.

Getting a patent on a gene has been debated for long; let us see how this patent challenge proceeds.