France challenges patent for genetic screening of breast cancer

The Institut Curie, France's top centre for research, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, is challenging the patent awarded by the European patent office to the US company Myriad Genetics, of Salt Lake City, Utah, for a test to screen for predisposition to breast cancer.

The patent, granted last January, covers the BRCA1 gene. The French ministry of health and the ministry of research support the institute's initiative, claiming that the patent gives Myriad an abusive monopoly and threatens basic research. …