Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Myriad Breast Cancer Gene Lawsuit


Myriad Genetics is a molecular diagnostic company that focuses mainly on the developing and marketing of predictive medicines, personalized medicine, and prognostic medicine tests. The Myriad Genetic Company uses the information they collect from their testing to help guide individuals toward which drug therapy they would respond best to. They help regulate the dosages of medicine to ensure optimal treatment and assess the likelihood of an individual to develop a disease, its progression, and its re-occurrence.
The Myriad Genetics Company has finally ended its patentdispute on breast cancer risk testing. Myriad Genetics Company was testing for mutations on two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The mutation of these genes have been linked to an increase risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. This testing caused the competitor companies to start making their own versions of the test only they made them cheaper. Myriads sued those companies and claimed that the competition was infringing on their patents.
Unfortunately, when brought to Judge Robert J. Shelby, he ruled against Myriads request. Later, the Federal Circuit agreed with the decision and ruled that human genes cannot be patented. The Myriad Company had to settle in court against the competitors, LabCorp, Invitae and Pathway Genomics, Ambry, GeneDx and Counsyl, and Quest Diagnostics. The agreement was that Myriad would not sue the other companies for the patent of the test on BRCA1 and BRCA2, as long of the other companies dropped their counter-suits against Myriad.

I think this test is needed especially in times like these where cancer is prevalent and can happen in a blink of an eye. As someone who has a family history of breast cancer, I think it would be beneficial to have a test that can determine the chance of me or any family member developing cancer. For the court to deny (rule against) Myriad’s claim, was an unfair decision.  They created the testing first and the competitors took their idea and made it cheaper, so they could get more patients and in turn more money.

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