In article <57E9A53101B938D9 at office.mmc.org>, varyc.mmcri at mmc.org
says...
>>Hi all,
>Does anyone know precisely how or wether issuance of a patent for a
gene
>sequence like BRCA1 (or p53, DCC etc. etc.) affects the ability of a
hospital
>clinical lab to obtain and use (and charge for) DNA sequence
information for
>patient care?
>>Much thanks in advance for any help/opinions..
>>>>Cal Vary
The patent holder can exclude anyone from making, using, or selling the
gene for any purpose for twenty years from the date the patent was
filed. The only exemption is use for sholarly research or research
designed to improve the invention. Use in patient care would require a
license. However, if BRCA1 proves useful for breast cancer diagnosis or
monitoring, I suspect Millenium, or one of its licensees will produce
and sell detection kits.
Jack H. Pincus
jhpincus at cris.com
