Battle over cancer gene test U.S. company's patenting claim called 'abhorrent'

By KAREN PALMER PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER
Posted 01/09/2003

Ontario has pledged $1.2 million to a controversial breast and ovarian cancer-screening test to show it won't be bullied by an American genetics company. The test can reliably predict whether women with a family history of such cancers will develop the disease but involves a gene sequence patented by Utah-based Myriad Genetics. Myriad has threatened to take the province to court if it doesn't stop performing the test.

Health Minister Tony Clement, who called gene patenting "abhorrent," said accepting the company's claim that it owns the gene sequence would mean more costly tests. "We do not accept their claim and we are disregarding that claim," he told a news conference yesterday. "This is a fight for access for women who might have a predisposition to breast or ovarian cancer." The company's patent extends to specific mutation genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Using a 17th-century Canadian patent law intended to protect designs for such things as kitchen gadgets, the company claims to own the cells found in women's bodies. The patent has drawn ire from around the world — it is currently being fought in European courts — because it creates a monopoly on any use of the genetic information, making it difficult to access the potentially life-saving test. "You have to do the test their way with their equipment at their site and you get their answer," said Dr. Ron Carter, a Hamilton genetic specialist.

Myriad's test costs about $3,600 (U.S.), more than three times the cost of Ontario's, and takes about eight weeks longer to provide results. About 11 per cent of Canadian women who live to 90 will develop breast cancer, with the likelihood increasing with age. Carrying the genetic defect raises the risk to between 35 and 80 per cent. "For a woman who's lost a mother, a sister or an aunt to breast cancer, it's a frightening proposition," said Julie White, chief executive officer of the Canadian Cancer Society.

In the face of threats made by Myriad last year, laboratories in British Columbia quit doing the genetic test. They intend to send about 200 samples to Ontario each year for testing. Clement vowed the province will fight if the company presses its claims. "We will go to the highest court in the land on this," he said. "In the courts of public opinion, it's against ethics and morality to claim they own people's bodies or parts thereof," said lawyer Jane Pepino, a chair of the Ontario Women's Health Council.

A spokesperson for Myriad, which also holds patents for colon and prostate cancer screening tests, did not return phone calls yesterday. About 5 to 10 per cent of breast cancers are hereditary and more than a thousand Ontario women request genetic screening each year. The screening will be conducted at seven regional hospital laboratories beginning in April, making Ontario the first province in Canada to roll out the testing on such a wide scale.