Do Gene Patents Promote the Progress of Science?
The purpose of the patent system is to provide incentives for research and innovation. But many critics believe that gene patents may be doing just the opposite. An example often cited is the issuance of patents for the breast cancer gene. All cancers involve changes in genes called “mutations.” In most cases, mutations occur after birth. But some cancers, including breast cancer, can be hereditary, which means that the cancer is caused by a mutated gene present at birth in all cells of the body. Two genes associated with breast cancer are called BRCA1 and BRCA2 (for breast cancer 1 and 2). Women with a family history of cancer who inherit a mutated form of BRCA1 have a much higher risk of developing cancer than women in the population at large. In 1997 and 1998, the U.S. Patent Office issued patents to Myriad Genetics, a company in Salt Lake City, Utah. One patent covered the BRCA1 gene sequence and any method of diagnosing the likelihood of breast cancer using that sequence. The Euro
