Australian Federal Court Rules Isolated Genetic Material can be Patented

The federal court has ruled that a company may patent genetic material that has been extracted from the human body, in a move that may have serious repercussions for the future of medical research in Australia.

Cancer Voices Australia began legal action over patents associated with a gene known as BRCA1 in 2010. Mutated versions of this gene, which women can be born with, have been associated with an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers.

“[The patenting of this material] places limits on genetic testing, genetic research and the development of treatments and cures for genetically associated disease,” the Maurice Blackburn lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan said.

“Gene patents are of great concern to the medical research community and to the medical profession. Gene patents stifle innovation.”

In February last year the federal court ruled that genetic material associated with mutated versions of BRCA1, once isolated from the human body, could be patented. Cancer Voices Australia appealed against the decision, but on Friday the full bench of the court upheld the ruling.

The companies involved are US-based Myriad Genetics and...