Aussie woman takes U.S. biotech corporation to highest court

An Australian woman has taken a U.S. -based biotech company to Australia's highest court in a landmark bid to stop corporations from owning human genes, local media reported Tuesday.

U.S.-based biotech company Myraid Genetics has a patent over the breast cancer gene known as BRCA1 and BRCA 2 which, if present, are linked to an increased risk of women developing breast and ovarian cancers.

Queensland woman Yvonne D'Arcy, who has had hormonal breast cancer twice, took her fight against Myraid Genetics to the Australian High Court, arguing the gene existed in nature, therefore it was discovered, rather than invented.

Under Australian patent law, material that occurs naturally is subject to a manufacture test where an invention must consist of an "artificially created state of affairs with economic significance" to determine if it would exist in nature.

D'Arcy argues that the patent on the gene is hindering medical research.

"We need to find out what turns these genes on, what makes them go rogue and what can turn them off," D'Arcy said. "And for people who have a genetic disorder then that is a plus for them because forewarned is forearmed."

Although the company has succeeded twice in Australia's federal court, D'Arcy expects Australia's highest court to take a different view in light of a recent ruling in the United States Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA was a product of nature and not patentable.

"Myriad did not create anything," U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his ruling. "To be sure it found an important and useful gene, but separating that gene from its surrounding genetic material is not an act of invention."

However, Myraid Genetics believe the U.S. ruling supports the Australian patent because the material in use was isolated from the gene, creating a "non-naturally occurring molecule."

The hearing starts on Tuesday for two days. Endi