Nathaniel Lipkus
Apr 15, 2016
In March, Canada saw a huge win for not-for-profit genetic testing. As Julius Melnitzer of the Financial Post writes, all Canadian public sector hospitals and laboratories can now test for the deadly heart condition Long QT syndrome on a not-for-profit basis. Osler lawyer, Nathaniel Lipkus, who aided the case pro bono said, “This agreement defines a practical pathway that will allow Canadian public hospitals and labs to conduct genetic testing without legal roadblocks from gene patents.”
This settlement between Transgenomic Inc. and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, allows the five gene patents owned by Transgenomic, to be used in genetic testing panels at no cost.
The patentability of human genes has been accepted practice in Canada and beyond. These patents often caused hospitals to send certain tests to laboratories owned by the companies who held the patents, often at an extreme cost. By 2012, Canada was sending hundreds of genetics tests to the U.S. annually. When Nathaniel got involved, many hospitals showed extreme concern about the gene patent problem.
“The genetics department were genuinely frustrated by the situation and saw this as an important issue for the hospital and medical care generally,” said Nathaniel.
To find out more about this settlement and how it affects gene patents, read Julius Melnitzer’s full article, “Canadian patent settlement sets model for not-for-profit gene test” online at the Financial Post, April 12, 2016.