Tuesday, September 25, 2012

ACLU and PUBPAT Ask Supreme Court to Rule that Patents on Breast Cancer Genes Are Invalid

A federal district court previously invalidated all of the challenged BRCA patents. However, in August, a federal appeals court ruled for the second time that companies can obtain patents on the genes.

“In our view, the court of appeals did not fully consider or correctly apply the Supreme Court’s most recent and relevant patent law decisions," said Chris Hansen, staff attorney with the ACLU. “DNA occurs naturally in the human body and cannot be patented by a single company that can then use its patents to limit scientific research and the free exchange of ideas.”

Visit: http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/aclu-and-pubpat-ask-supreme-court-rule-patents-breast-cancer-genes-are-invalid to read more! Read more!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Monday, September 10, 2012

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If you are considering genetic testing - be seen by a Genetic Counselor or other Genetics Professional. Here's why:

An excerpt from Bloomberg.com

Fumbled DNA Tests Mean Peril for Breast-Cancer Patients
By Robert Langreth - Sep 10, 2012 12:00 AM ET

Debbie McCarron was prepared to get both of her breasts taken off if a blood test in December 2006 revealed she carried a gene that vastly increases the risk of breast cancer. Having survived the disease five years earlier, she didn’t want to risk getting it again.

To her relief, her oncologist told her the test, done by Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN), had come back negative, “just like I knew it would,” McCarron recalls her doctor saying.

He was wrong. The results, in fact, were positive. McCarron didn’t learn this, though, until July 2009, more than two years later, when a genetic counselor reviewed the test following McCarron’s surgery to remove a new malignant breast tumor. Since then, her oncologist, Haresh Jhangiani, told Bloomberg he isn’t clear about what happened.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-10/fumbled-dna-tests-mean-peril-for-breast-cancer-patients.html Read more!