A New Zealand doctor agrees with a landmark legal challenge in the United States against a patent on two breast cancer genes.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is taking the case on behalf of 20 plaintiffs, says the private company that holds the patent on the BCRA1 and BCRA2 genes is making the test prohibitively expensive.
Myriad Genetics, a privately-owned American company, discovered the genes and was awarded worldwide patent rights, along with the diagnostic tests.
Dr Don Love, director of Diagnostic Genetics at medical laboratory testing facility LabPLUS at Auckland Hospital, says allowing companies to patent such genes could put access to patient tests in jeopardy.
The plaintiffs say by enforcing the patent, the company is holding up research and making the test too expensive.
Dr Love told Nine to Noon that genetic testing for at-risk New Zealand women is publicly-funded.
However, he says patents on genetic tests for diagnostic purposes by a monopoly supplier are an anathema.
