Australian court upholds patent for breast cancer gene  By Frank
Gaglioti 26 February 2013  Australia’s Federal Court has handed
down a ruling supporting a patent on a breast cancer gene. The
February 15 decision serves to entrench the rights of biotech
companies as they scramble to obtain, enforce and profit from
patents on genetic material.  Justice John Nicholas found
against advocacy group, Cancer Voices Australia, and a breast
cancer victim Yvonne D’Arcy, and upheld the patent for the
cancer gene BRCA1 claimed by Genetic Technologies and Myriad
Genetics. Genetic Technologies holds the patent in Australia
under licence from US firm Myriad Genetics.  The judgment
represents the first legal finding in Australia on the
patentability of genetic sequences and has far-reaching
ramifications both in Australia and internationally, where the
case has been closely followed.  The development of relatively
cheap genetic scanning and the identification of small genetic
variations responsible for various human conditio