Aggregated News
A bid to halt the controversial patenting of human genes will be launched before a Senate committee next week, when experts will argue that the practice is akin to patenting the moon and is strangling vital research.
About 20 per cent of human genes are already patented in the US. The issue sparked alarm in Australia last year when a Melbourne-based company that owned rights to a gene mutation that causes breast cancer ordered all other laboratories to stop performing the $2100 test.
It said at the time it would funnel all testing through its own labs instead, creating fears that prices would rise and expertise at other centres would be lost.
The ASX-listed company, Genetic Technologies, later backed down after a public outcry and a boardroom spill. But the scare was enough to forge a coalition of health and legal experts determined to fight for a tightening of Australia's patent rules.
Late last year, Liberal senator Bill Heffernan agreed to help, taking up the cause and securing an inquiry by the Senate's community affairs committee. The committee will hold...
About 20 per cent of human genes are already patented in the US. The issue sparked alarm in Australia last year when a Melbourne-based company that owned rights to a gene mutation that causes breast cancer ordered all other laboratories to stop performing the $2100 test.
It said at the time it would funnel all testing through its own labs instead, creating fears that prices would rise and expertise at other centres would be lost.
The ASX-listed company, Genetic Technologies, later backed down after a public outcry and a boardroom spill. But the scare was enough to forge a coalition of health and legal experts determined to fight for a tightening of Australia's patent rules.
Late last year, Liberal senator Bill Heffernan agreed to help, taking up the cause and securing an inquiry by the Senate's community affairs committee. The committee will hold...