Australia’s High Court and its champion, Yvonne D’Arcy, have celebrated a watershed victory in the fight against breast cancer.
In a battle against US biotech company, Myriad Genetics, who had patented the breast and ovarian cancer gene, BRCA1, in order to commercialise it, D’Arcy triumphed when the High Court ruled to overturn Myriad’s patent.
Speaking on the ruling, D’Arcy revealed that she is overjoyed with the court’s 7-0 decision, which she says will make ovarian and breast cancer testing cheaper and more easily available.
“I’m so happy and I’m ecstatic,” said D’Arcy, a two-time breast cancer and cervical cancer survivor, “I screamed. I screamed. And I was just excited to know that we had it 7-0 our way.”
“It was a David and Goliath test,” D’Arcy said of the five-year court battle, “I’m only a little person, but it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. I kept fighting.”
“For all those people who do have the genetic footprint for breast cancer or any cancer basically, it’s a win for them because now they’re forewarned around forearmed,” she said.
“The testing will be a lot cheaper and it will be more available to them by more geneticists, rather than using only Myriad’s agents at a price that nobody really can afford, except for Angelina Jolie,” said D’Arcy.
“People like us could never afford that amount of money, but now the costs will go down and there will be more geneticists will be able to test.”
Myriad Genetics were also in Brisbane to hear the verdict, which they commented was “very disappointing” and that removing the patent from BRCA1 would “de-incentivise” companies from pursuing breast cancer research and treatments because it would remove part of the commercial viability.
“We are disappointed with the decision by the High Court of Australia,” said a Myriad spokesperson.
“The High Court’s decision comes at a critical time when we’re entering the golden era of personalised medicine,” they continued.
“In order for personalised medicine to become a reality, strong patent protection is essential because it provides the research-based companies like Myriad with an incentive to continue to invest in R&D.”
However the CEO of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Jackie Coles, says that the patent removal will act towards making treatments cheaper and more easily available.
“This is great news for Australia,” Ms Coles said in a statement.
“Lifting the restrictions on BRCA1 will allow researchers to translate fundamental knowledge about our genetic make-up into real advances in breast cancer detection and treatment.”
“There are potentially a number of genes, yet to be identified, that are linked to breast cancer and that is why (we are) committed to funding research in this area.”
The High Court followed the US’ recent ruling that genes are discoveries rather than inventions by deciding that genes are naturally occurring and therefore cannot be patented.
