By Brian Alexander, NBC News Contributor

The legal question at the heart of the US Supreme Courts debate over the patenting of human genes has practical ramifications that could ripple into the lives of every American -- not just women at risk for rare breast cancer.

Dorothy Warburton, Ph.D./Newscom

BRCA 2 (breast cancer) gene on chromosome 13.

What the high court decides could affect who will conduct your medical tests, how those tests are interpreted, how and how fast drugs can be developed -- and what your doctor can tell you about your health, experts say.

Thats because all of those issues are entangled in the case involving a Utah company, Myriad Genetics, which controls the patents on variations of two human genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women with mutations in those genes are at much higher risk for getting breast and ovarian cancer.

This is important, says patent expert Arti Rai, the Elvin R. Latty professor of law at Duke University School of Law, and an affiliate of Dukes Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. If the court rules against Myriad, this may make it easier for you to get second opinions, about diagnostic tests, she said.

Myriad owns the patents to the genetic sequences, as well as any mutations along those genes. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has brought the case on behalf of a coalition of patients, researchers and doctors, argues that that means that if genes from a particular person are analyzed or separated from other biological material, regardless of how or for what reason, that would constitute patent infringement.

The industry has countered for years -- and won on this argument -- that they don't patent the genes, but the man-made molecules based on those genes.

Myriads current exclusive right to the testing means all BRCA tests are conducted by Myriad. Theres no second opinion or confirmation by an independent second source and Myriad can set its own price free of competition.

See the article here:
Supreme Court gene patent decision could affect every patient

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