Cashing In

Although the Human Genome Project is a publicly-funded project and all information is shared, there are many companies out there that are trying to cash in on new gene discoveries.

Companies are patenting genes, meaning any gene they discover can technically belong to them. Thousands of genes have been patented over the past decade. An example is the breast cancer gene, BRAC1, which has been patented by Myriad Genetics Inc. The company charges $2,400 for each genetic test on patients and also gets royalties from all predictive tests based on this gene.

The issue is how can a gene belong to anyone. The patent office in Canada and US decided that, if a gene could be taken out of the body, identified and shown to have some use, it could be patented.

The debate continues of whether this is right or not, with the commercial companies on one side trying to protect their investment, and scientists and activists on the other, who believe DNA to be a common heritage that should be shielded from commercial exploitation.