Court battle fought over BRCA Patents

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kittycat
kittycat Member Posts: 2,144
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

Interesting news found on clinicaloncology.com...  "On March 29, 2010, a judge in a New York federal court agreed and ruled that patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 are invalid because genes are products of nature. The lawsuit filed last May against Myriad, the maker of the BRCA gene test, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation. The ruling marks the first time a court has found patents on genes unlawful and it makes the future of patents held on other human genes uncertain."

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  • kittycat
    kittycat Member Posts: 2,144
    edited April 2010

    Here... I will bump my thread that went nowhere.  This is important stuff, esp since many people cannot have genetic testing because it's so expensive and some insurances and medicare won't pay for it. 

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  • hereandnow
    hereandnow Member Posts: 322
    edited April 2010

    yeh kittycat - I have been aware for years that this company held a "patent" of what was essentially not their invention. It's like patenting a human foot because you described it first - no you did not invent something new - the gene was in existence for many many many years before some smart*** company tried to "own" it and worse, sell it's use to women with/worried about having breast / ovarian cancer - really the lowest of the lows in my opinion.

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  • Beanius
    Beanius Member Posts: 1,697
    edited May 2010

    Bump

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  • floridian
    floridian Member Posts: 128
    edited June 2010

    Thanks for this. My doctor keeps encouraging me to have the BRCA test which is way too expensive since my insurance won't pay because I only have one family member with BC. I figure my risk is more than 50% already, I'm not sure what it would change. I wish it weren't so darn expensive!

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  • MandieD
    MandieD Member Posts: 6
    edited June 2010

    I'm going to see what a BRCA test costs here on the private market and will report back to y'all. There are a lot of medical things that are way less expensive here, even if you're paying it all out of pocket. For example, I paid about 2000 Euro total between ultrasounds from my own gyno, the mammogram she prescribed, an initial biopsy on what turned out to be (thank God) two fibroadenomas, their removal and the night in the hospital I won because I passed out after catching a look at the surgeon's bloodied scrubs (even though she had told me not to look!) That was full-freight; my US-based insurer cheerfully paid 90% of it, as it was well cheaper than it would have been in the US.

    If the BRCA test not as absurdly expensive as it is in the States, I highly recommend taking your late spring/early fall vacation here :)

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  • MandieD
    MandieD Member Posts: 6
    edited June 2010

    And German Wikipedia says the combination test for BRCA1/2 mutations tops out at 1500 Euro in Europe. I'll still try to pin down a more specific figure for Germany. Since Germany's medical system is a weird patchwork of public and private, there might well be competing labs.

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