Strasbourg, 09/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Adopting a resolution on two patent requests for human genes (BRC A1 and BRC A2) during its emergency debate, the European Parliament expressed its concern at the potential impact of the European Patent Office (EPO) awarding such a patent.
Since the beginning of 2001, the EPO has already granted two patents to the US company Myriad Genetics for the first of the above-mentioned human genes, and has given a favourable response to the new request for the second. The company already has these patents in the US, and in order to obtain them, it simply isolated genes linked to breast cancer and therefore has the option of blocking or getting rights on every use of these genes and their mutations for research purposes, along with a genuine monopoly of breast cancer screening tests using the genes in question. Parliament stresses that women in Europe already have to wait longer than necessary for the results of breast cancer screening tests because some of the tests are only authorised to be carried out in the Myriad Genetics laboratories in the US. This also gives rise to additional costs likely to damage access to testing in the poorest countries and the cost of testing in the developed world.
Parliament therefore renewed its appeal for the Munch Office to ensure that no patents in Europe violate the principle of the non-patentability of life (human beings and their cells or genes in their natural environment). It is calling on the EPO to reconsider its granting of this patent for genes, thereby joining bodies like the Curie Institute that are planning to raise objections to the granting of these patents. Parliament again calls for the EPO's activities to be reassessed in order to ensure that it is publicly accountable for its activities, and also for the European Patent to be amended to ensure that the EPO can cancel patents on its own initiative. Parliament therefore renews its appeal to the Council, the Commission and Member States to adopt the necessary measures for guaranteeing free and universal access to the human genome for research purposes.
The monopoly position of the US company Myriad Genetics must be "smashed", exclaimed Ria Oomen-Ruijten (EPP, the Netherlands) during the debate, while Evelyne Gebhardt (German Social Democrat) said that the Curie Institute had criticised the way the European Patent Office had behaved in this particular case. In the view of Hiltrud Breyer (Green, Germany) and Johannes Blokland (EDD, the Netherlands), the problem arises from a contradiction in the 1998 Directive which stipulates in Article 5.1 that the human body and its parts cannot be patented, while in 5.2 it says that if part of the human body can be isolated, it can be patented. Finnish MEP Astrid Thors said that the Liberal group would vote against the resolution since it believed that whatever ones opinions on the substance (the Liberals oppose the patenting of human genes as a matter of principle), it is an error to suggest that this case is an urgent matter.
Poul Nielson said that the Commission saw no need to oppose the patent since it does not contravene any essential ethical rule, and also because it has a definite scientific interest. In terms of the Directive in question, he said that it was the fruit of ten years of work and therefore of compromises. Mr Nielson summed up that while some people may not agree with it, it is the EU's legislation, but he did pledge to transmit the EP's objections to the rest of the Commission.