FUTILE WORK
  • Home
  • News
    • Articles Of Interest
    • Numbers In The News
    • Life and Humanity
    • Quotes
    • Futile Updates
  • Curio
    • The Wonder of Lasers
    • Japan 2011 Psyop
    • Know Your Rights
    • Masonic Symbols and the LDS Temple
    • The Nun's Story
    • Special Edition
    • Explosion On The Launch Pad
  • Archive
    • COVID Charts Quiz
    • Dave McGowan
    • Document Archive
    • Multi Media
    • Time For A Laugh
  • Blog

Canadian hospital, sick of US test monopoly, sues to stop gene patents

11/4/2014

 
nws.club/9Jw
University of Utah lost gene patents in the US, but enforces them up north.

by Joe Mullin

Last year, the US Supreme Court finally banned patents on human genes after they were handed out by the US Patent and Trademark Office for decades.

The effort was powered by the ACLU and Public Patent Foundation, which gathered a group of plaintiffs who were paying high prices for the patented gene tests on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

Now Canada is about to see a similar suit. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) has filed suit (PDF) in Canadian federal court seeking to invalidate patents related to "Long QT syndrome," an inherited heart disorder that affects somewhere between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 5,000 people. The patents were created at the University of Utah. That's the same US university that was connected to the landmark Myriad case. University of Utah got patents on the BRCA genes and then licensed them exclusively to Myriad Genetics.

CHEO tests kids for Long QT along with more than 20 other genetic disorders. But it can't get certified by the Ontario government to do the test itself because of patents owned by the University of Utah, according to the lawsuit.

"Genes are not inventions," said Dr. Gail Graham of the hospital's genetics department during a press conference on Monday. "They belong to all of us."

Right now, CHEO pays about $4,500 (US) to do the tests for Long QT syndrome by sending the samples off to a lab in the United States. The hospital says it could do the tests itself for about half the cost, if it were free of the patents.

The lawsuit has already sparked debate in Canada.

"The very idea of patenting genes is offensive," wrote The Toronto Star in an editorial published this morning. "While they can be discovered, chunks of human genetic material aren’t new scientific or commercial inventions; they are raw products of nature."

The Long QT patents are all owned by the University of Utah; it co-owns one with Yale University and another with Genzyme Genetics, which is now part of testing giant LabCorp.

The same patent-holders had US patents on the Long QT syndrome, but there's no evidence they enforced them in the US following the Myriad decision.

As for Myriad, it has attempted to extend its control over BRCA testing by filing a new batch of lawsuits based on gene patents it claims are different.


http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/canadian-hospital-sick-of-us-test-monopoly-sues-to-stop-gene-patents/

jump to top | return to articles home

Comments are closed.
    Articles Home

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    June 2020
    November 2019
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    May 2010
    April 2010
    May 2006
    December 2004
    October 2003
    June 2002
    September 2001
    February 2001
    February 1998

New Here?

Updates
About

Miscellany

​Contact
Disclaimer

Search

  • Home
  • News
    • Articles Of Interest
    • Numbers In The News
    • Life and Humanity
    • Quotes
    • Futile Updates
  • Curio
    • The Wonder of Lasers
    • Japan 2011 Psyop
    • Know Your Rights
    • Masonic Symbols and the LDS Temple
    • The Nun's Story
    • Special Edition
    • Explosion On The Launch Pad
  • Archive
    • COVID Charts Quiz
    • Dave McGowan
    • Document Archive
    • Multi Media
    • Time For A Laugh
  • Blog