LONDON (Agence de Presse Medicale for Reuters Health) - Britain’s leading cancer charity said on Wednesday it had secured a Europe-wide patent on the hereditary breast cancer gene BRCA2, but would not charge public laboratories that use the technology.
Cancer Research UK said in a statement it would “allow public laboratories throughout Europe to use the patent for free, mirroring its actions in the UK, where it already holds a BRCA2 patent”.
“BRCA2 plays a central role in the inheritance of some important forms of cancer and we’re delighted to have secured the patent for the gene in Europe,” said the charity’s chief executive, Professor Alex Markham. “If the BRCA patents had been owned entirely by private companies, it would have made research into the inheritance of cancer far more expensive and made it costly for doctors to provide genetic services for those with a strong family history.”
The statement did not refer to the American company, Myriad Genetics Inc, which has three European patents on the BRCA1 gene and one on BRCA2. A charity spokesman told APM: “It is true that Myriad has a patent on BRCA2 in Europe but ours was filed earlier and is much broader. It places us in a blocking position if Myriad tries to charge public laboratories.”
Myriad could not be reached for comment.
The Institute of Cancer Research discovered the BRCA2 gene in 1995. Cancer Research Technology Limited, the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, filed the patent. It covers all attempts to sequence the gene or to test for damaged and inactive variants.
MeSH Headings:Breast Neoplasms: Neoplasms: Neoplasms by Site: Genes, BRCA1: DiseasesCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
