EPO limits cancer gene patent
23 January 2005
Political and scientific groups last week succeeded in reducing the scope of a human gene patent used to facilitate the diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancer in women
Political and scientific groups last week succeeded in reducing the scope of a human gene patent used to facilitate the diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancer in women.
Following a two-day hearing, the European Patent Office (EPO) on January 21 ruled in favour of reducing the scope of a European patent to the human BRCA1 gene from around 30 to just three claims.
The patent is the second in a series of three disputed patents covering different aspects of the BRCA1 gene which Myriad Genetics was granted by the EPO in 2001. In January the University of Utah and the US Department of Health, the co-owners with Myriad from the beginning, became sole patent owners.
In May 2004, the EPO revoked the first patent, which covered methods used to facilitate early prediction...
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