Apr
1

Can you patent a gene? Live discussion with Robert Cook-Deegan

April 1st, 2010


In the first major court ruling on the legality of patenting human
genes, a federal judge Monday invalidated patents held by biotech
company Myriad Genetics on the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. The
decision could call into question the patents covering thousands of
human genes, with potential impacts for patients and medical researchers
alike. Duke professor Robert Cook-Deegan will discuss the historic case
and other issues surrounding the regulation of genomics technologies in
a live “Office Hours” webcast interview Friday, April 2, beginning at
noon on Duke’s Ustream channel.

Viewers can submit questions in advance or during the session by e-mail
to live@duke.edu, on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook
or via Twitter with the tag #dukelive.

Cook-Deegan, the director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law & Policy
at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, says the Myriad
case highlights the growing challenge of maintaining the legitimate
rights of patent holders while still meeting the needs of medical
patients and enabling biomedical researchers to pursue important
scientific questions.