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New Study Calls For Government Action After Dark Truth About Breast Cancer Test Conflict Revealed
16 September 2008
More expensive health services on the way for Canadians if nothing is done, authors tell Health Canada
MONTREAL – Tuesday, September 16 2008 - A report released today for Health Canada by two McGill University professors, Dr. E. Richard Gold and Dr. Tina Piper of The Innovation Partnership (TIP), calls on Canada’s government to respond to the lessons learned from a past crisis that shook the nation, over the patenting of breast and ovarian cancer genes.
In 2001, American biotech company Myriad Genetics and several Canadian provinces entered into a public battle that threatened the availability of genetic tests to Canadian women. The report builds on a groundbreaking investigation into the 2001 Myriad Genetics crisis in Canada, entitled Myriad Genetics: in the eye of the policy storm, released last week in Ottawa by the International Expert Group on Biotechnology, Intellectual Property and Innovation. The investigation revealed dark details of the conflict that had so far not been made public, including political threats and legal actions made against Canada.
Myriad Genetics made headline news in Canada when it and its Canadian licensee, MDS Laboratories, told Canadian provinces to stop providing their genetic tests to Canadian patients. Negotiations between Myriad and Canadian provincial governments turned sour after Myriad threatened the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta with legal action for patent infringement. After Ontario’s refusal to stop providing access to the test, Myriad delivered letters to Tony Clement - then Ontario’s Minister of Health - from a US senator and the US ambassador to Canada, containing threats of trade sanctions against Canada.
“Companies have and will continue to use patents as a stick to prevent public health authorities from introducing new services in an efficient manner” stated Prof. Richard Gold of McGill University Faculty of Law and an author on both reports. “What is needed is Canadian leadership in making sure that government laboratories and universities work with industry to ensure that novel health products and services are brought to Canadians within the public health care system.”
“With a slew of new tests on the horizon for cancer, neurological, blood and heart diseases” Dr. Gold continues, “Canadians will find their access to lifesaving diagnostic tests compromised unless industry licenses its technology in a vastly different manner”
The problems between Myriad and the provinces were exacerbated by several factors, including turf wars between federal and provincial governments and even within the federal government, according to the International Expert Group investigation, which was led by Dr. Gold. Further, the investigation revealed that observers wrongly accused the company of preventing research on breast cancer, leading Canadian genetics researchers to stop contributing their findings to breast cancer databases, lessening the chances for a medical breakthrough. Together, these factors prevented any effective resolution, leaving open the possibilities of future disputes and threats.
In its study for Health Canada, TIP calls for the government of Canada, as well as universities and industry, to proactively change the way that public institutions protect and license genetic technologies. Without doing so, the authors warn, Canadians face the prospect of fewer and more expensive diagnostic health tests and fewer chances of reaching medical breakthroughs for cancer, blood and heart diseases.
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Mireille Bonhomme / Alain Labonté Communications
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