Israeli doctors want to stop European patent for genetic test
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
Israeli oncologists and geneticists are trying to prevent the European Patent Office from granting a patent to a US company for a genetic test for the BRCA1 mutation, on the grounds that it may be racist. The mutation is responsible for a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer in Jewish women of Ashkenazi (European) origin. The hearing was scheduled for Wednesday 29 June in Munich.
Registering a patent for a genetic test that identifies a mutation typical only of Jews of Ashkenazi background is "a racist idea that may cause discrimination in Israel and around the world against these women," said Eliezer Robinson, chairman of the Israel Cancer Association and of Israel's National Oncology Council, and Dorit Lev, head of the Israel Association of Medical Geneticists. Both sent the petition via Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the European Union.
Coloured immunofluorescent light micrograph of the BRCA1 gene
Credit: CUSTOM MEDICAL STOCK/SPL
"The reasons behind registering the above patent are solely economic and have no medical ramifications," they added. The US company was able to develop its test on the basis of scientific research conducted for decades around the world, and it belonged to the world, they suggested.
Myriad Genetics, based in Utah, holds a patent in the United States for the test, which costs $500 (￡270; 410). In Israel, where there is no patent protection, the same kit costs the equivalent of about $70. Israel's four public health funds currently supply it free to people at high risk of being carriers because of their family history, but the patent could force them to stop paying for it, Dr Lev said.
Israel has an estimated 35 000 female carriers and an equal number of male carriers, who have a somewhat higher risk of prostate cancer as a result.
One per cent of Ashkenazi Jewish women carry the mutation, which is tested from a simple blood sample. Among Jewish women of Ashkenazi origin, there are very few genetic changes in the relevant genes, explained Professor Robinson and Dr Lev, making it easy and quick to identify women at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. A negative result has greatly reassured women from families with multiple cases of breast or ovarian cancer, the Israeli experts said.
The risk of these women contracting breast cancer is about 50%-80%, compared with a risk of 12% for the general population in Israel and throughout the world.(Judy Siegel-Itzkovich)
Registering a patent for a genetic test that identifies a mutation typical only of Jews of Ashkenazi background is "a racist idea that may cause discrimination in Israel and around the world against these women," said Eliezer Robinson, chairman of the Israel Cancer Association and of Israel's National Oncology Council, and Dorit Lev, head of the Israel Association of Medical Geneticists. Both sent the petition via Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the European Union.
Coloured immunofluorescent light micrograph of the BRCA1 gene
Credit: CUSTOM MEDICAL STOCK/SPL
"The reasons behind registering the above patent are solely economic and have no medical ramifications," they added. The US company was able to develop its test on the basis of scientific research conducted for decades around the world, and it belonged to the world, they suggested.
Myriad Genetics, based in Utah, holds a patent in the United States for the test, which costs $500 (￡270; 410). In Israel, where there is no patent protection, the same kit costs the equivalent of about $70. Israel's four public health funds currently supply it free to people at high risk of being carriers because of their family history, but the patent could force them to stop paying for it, Dr Lev said.
Israel has an estimated 35 000 female carriers and an equal number of male carriers, who have a somewhat higher risk of prostate cancer as a result.
One per cent of Ashkenazi Jewish women carry the mutation, which is tested from a simple blood sample. Among Jewish women of Ashkenazi origin, there are very few genetic changes in the relevant genes, explained Professor Robinson and Dr Lev, making it easy and quick to identify women at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. A negative result has greatly reassured women from families with multiple cases of breast or ovarian cancer, the Israeli experts said.
The risk of these women contracting breast cancer is about 50%-80%, compared with a risk of 12% for the general population in Israel and throughout the world.(Judy Siegel-Itzkovich)