Myriad Gene Patent Ruling Triggers Race for Cancer Tests

Companies and a university are moving to offer cheaper and broader genetic testing for breast cancer risk to a growing group of women, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that endedMyriad Genetics Inc.’s (MYGN) monopoly over DNA that vastly raises odds for the disease.

Within hours of the decision, the University of Washington and Ambry Genetics, a closely held company in Aliso Viejo, California, said they would immediately offer expanded testing that included the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which Myriad has had under patent since the late 1990s. Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) said it would sell testing for the genes later this year.
 

By invalidating key parts of Myriad’s patents, the court has removed a bar that prevented labs using new technology from developing and selling broader one-time tests that search for all known cancer risks, including the BRCA genes, geneticists said. It could also mean lower prices for the screening, which can cost as much as $4,000 for Myriad’s most comprehensive version of its BRCA cancer gene test.

The decision “removes the barriers to comprehensive cancer genetic testing,” said Elizabeth Swisher, a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“For patients who have cancer or a strong family history of cancer, there is no reason you wouldn’t want to get the most comprehensive test available” that would scan all cancer risk genes in a single test, she said.

source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/myriad-gene-patent-ruling-triggers-race-for-cancer-tests.html