This is of interest to ' Ausseneil ' as it has occurred in Australia, but I find this trend very worrying. Surely this will slow down and make research more expensive.? It is this research which we all so desperately need.
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The Federal Court of Australia has dismissed a case in which a group of cancer patients were challenging the viability of a patent held by Myriad Genetics covering mutations in the BRCA1 gene linked to increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
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Written by
Kwenda
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Everything is under patent...every gene and mutation, every test and every drug... yes it slows down the process and is extremely expensive...but it is necessry to protect the companies' investments. The patent comes off Rituximab in 2014/15 and 15 companies are developing biosimilars to capture part of the 6 billion dollar annual market...
The patent system does serve a useful purpose as outlined by Chris above. Unfortunately, today there is a huge industry in patenting everything possible - not only so that a company can gain a return on its investment in research and development costs, but sadly, sometimes just to protect an existing product by preventing other companies from bringing an alternative and possibly better product to market.
Regarding companies profiting from genetic mutations, one very famous case is that of Henrietta Lacks, who died from cervical cancer. The cells from her cancer were rather unique in that they could survive outside the body and this immortal cell line was profitably commercialised (but not patented in their original form) with no payments made to the woman's family.
Also relevant is that in 2004, Australia signed a free trade agreement with the USA and through this, the rights of patent holders were expanded and Australia agreed to extend its copyright expiration period from 50 to 70 years.
There is a fantastic video "A Fair(y) Use Tale" that defines copyright and how the copyright period has grown over the years. Lasting just over 10 minutes, it is well worth a look.
Hi copyright and patents can and do have unexpected consequences. Its like the Data protection act which it often seems to be used to obstruct rather than protect. We are in an era of "sue everybody" which can restrict not just free access but real development.
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