THE European Patent Office has dealt a blow to the attempts by US company Myriad Genetics to gain a monopoly on testing for the two main genes linked to hereditary breast cancer. It has awarded a European patent covering tests involving the gene BRCA2 to the charity Cancer Research UK, which already holds the UK patent.
The ruling gives the charity鈥檚 patent precedence over Myriad鈥檚 in Europe. Cancer Research UK says it will allow public labs to use the BRCA2 test free of charge. That should make screening women in Europe for hereditary forms of breast cancer significantly cheaper.
Myriad has been insisting that all samples are sent to its Salt Lake City lab for testing, provoking fierce protests from geneticists and patient groups in Europe (快猫短视频, 13 July 2002, p 29). The US company still owns exclusive patents on the other major breast cancer gene, BRCA1, but this is being challenged in European courts.
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