MAURICE BLACKBURN STARTS AUSTRALIAN GENE PATENTS TEST CASE
June 28th 2010 01:24
Tuesday June 8, 2010
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
* ASX, BIOTECH UP: SUNSHINE HEART UP 9%, GENETIC TECH DOWN 10%
* MAURICE BLACKBURN STARTS AUSTRALIAN GENE PATENTS TEST CASE
* SIRTEX ASIAN TRIAL SHOWS EXTENDED BENEFIT
* SIGNOSTICS HANDHELD ULTRASOUND WINS DESIGN AWARDS
* MODEL BACKS GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES’ BREVAGEN TEST
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* GENESIS LOSES DIRECTOR JIM MCLEAN
* IM MEDICAL EXTENDS NEGOTIATIONS HALT TO SUSPENSION
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GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES, MAURICE BLACKBURN
Law firm Maurice Blackburn, consumer organization Cancer Voices Australia and a breast cancer patient have begun legal action over a patent covering human genetic material.
Maurice Blackburn principal Rebecca Gilsenan is leading the case and told Biotech Daily the challenge was against three claims in the BRCA1 patent, owned by Myriad Genetics and licenced from Myriad by the Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies.
Ms Gilsenan said the matter was filed with the Federal Court’s New South Wales registry today and expected a directions hearing in about four weeks.
Ms Gilsenan said the US gene patenting case went beyond the gene and technology patents and included constitutional issues and declared the patent invalid.
Genetic Technologies chief executive officer Dr Paul MacLeman told Biotech Daily that his company did not want a legal fight over gene patenting.
“We have a licence and provide the best service [for breast cancer BRCA1 gene testing],” Dr MacLeman said.
“We had to take a licence, but we’re not the patent owner,” Dr MacLeman said.
“We’re not enforcing the patent. I don’t know why we’re involved in this case,” he said.
In March, Dr MacLeman told Biotech Daily that his company licenced the patents for gene testing for breast and ovarian cancer from the US-based Myriad Genetics which was sued in the US District Court in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union over the patents (BD: Mar 30, 2010).
The widely reported finding said genes were not patentable as they were part of nature and not inventions.
Dr MacLeman’s predecessor as chief executive officer at Genetic Technologies Michael Ohanessian wanted to recover costs from institutions performing the tests, but the company’s founder and major shareholder Dr Mervyn Jacobson reversed the decision (BD: Jun 11, Dec 2, 2008).
A media release from Maurice Blackburn said it would argue that Patent 686,004 held by companies including Myriad Genetics and Genetic Technologies was invalid.
The media release said that in March, the Federal District Court in New York ruled that patents were improperly granted to Myriad Genetics on two human genes, including BRCA1.
Maurice Blackburn said the Australian test case was supported by patent law expert Dr Luigi Palombi from Australian National University and Sydney University and would be run on a pro bono basis by Maurice Blackburn partner Rebecca Gilsenan and barristers David Catterns and Peter Cashman.
Ms Gilsenan said there was “a philosophical and ethical issue about the commercialization of the human body”.
“Beyond that, there is a practical concern - the patent owner has a right to prevent people from studying and testing for the gene mutation, so gene patents can stifle research, the development of treatments, and access to diagnostic testing,” Ms Gilsenan said.
“Patents protect inventions, not discoveries,” she said.
“What Myriad has done is discovered and isolated the gene from the human body,” Ms Gilsenan said.
“We will argue that that does not and can not amount to a patentable invention,” Ms Gilsenan said.
The law firm said that five to 10 percent of women with breast cancer had a known gene mutation and many others had a strong family history.
At least 20 percent of human genes were patented and the outcome of the test case would have implications for the status of other patents on other genetic material.
Genetic Technologies fell 0.4 cents or 9.8 percent to 3.7 cents.
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