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’s patent precedence over Myriad’s 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…
