Patient and research groups condemn draft bill allowing human gene patenting in US
By 
Rebecca Trager2019-06-06T14:30:00
A measure floated by Congress could hinder research and access to gene tests and raise their costs
Draft legislation under consideration in the US Congress would overturn perhaps 150 years of legal precedent and permit patenting of human genes, as well as naturally-occurring associations between genes and diseases. But it has been opposed by 169 scientific, medical, patient and other organisations. In a 3 June letter to the draft bill’s author Thom Tillis and his colleagues, the organisations argue that the measure, if enacted, will hinder the discovery of new treatments for diseases, create barriers for patient access to genomic tests and raise the cost of targeted therapeutics.