Myriad Owns Your Genes

Yesterday a federal appeals court ruled that companies could patent genes. The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with Myriad Genetics in the case. Myriad has a patent that tests for the gene BRCA1 and 2 which tests for breast and ovarian cancer. If a woman has the BRCA1 they are 60% more likely to develop breast cancer before they hit 90.

The court claimed that if the DNA is isolated from the body it can be patented. So in essence, our DNA once it becomes isolated can become patented. Blood tests are like this except I don’t know anyone that has a blood test patent per se. The important question however is will this genetic test inhibit growth within the genetic testing industry. Myriad has somewhat of a monopoly since if women get tested for this one gene they have to get a specific test done. The test costs around $300-$3,000 which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t seem a lot if it can accurately tell you whether or not you have cancer. I say Myriad has somewhat of a monopoly because there are other companies out there that can sequence the genome, analyze the genome, and predict what diseases you may or may not have. This is an alternative and perhaps in time will be a better one as genome sequencing will become cheaper and more companies will be created to figure out how to interpret the results of the genome.

Technology seems to always improve while coming down in price. I have a feeling genetics and biotech will be the next wave, however I have no idea when the wave will flood the market or crash. Sequencing the genome has become relatively cheap in recent years. As more people get their genome encoded the need to interpret and predict what the genome means becomes very valuable. This process could take a decade or longer but once it happens we will have more data than ever before.