A rchive Date
[ 24-06-2000 ]
Category
[ Science ]
sub-Categoy
[ Biotechnology ]
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The hunt for genetic treasure
Researchers have all but completed the mapping of the human genome, the rewards from which will come in two forms: a long leap forward in curing or controlling disease and a financial bonanza for many firms
By MARGARET MUNRO
The Financial Post
Saturday, June 24, 2000
For $7,000, you can peek at the genes of your unborn child. For $3,850, you can scan your chromosomes for the deadly mutations linked with breast cancer.
And for $200, you can find out whether you inherited one of the flawed genes associated with muscular dystrophy, osteoporosis or Alzheimer's disease.
Such are the services of the expanding genetic industry, which aims eventually to be able to search people's genetic machinery for all manner of defects, and to tailor therapies and drugs to meet individual needs.
The potential is so big many observers expect advances in genetics and genomics to revolutionize medicine in coming decades. It will, they say, reveal the biochemical basis for life -- and disease.
But there are, say scientists and industry officials, some substantial hurdles to overcome. Chief among those is the genome itself.
While the draft of the entire human genome is now in hand -- or at least stored in computer data banks -- researchers are years away from understanding the gigantic three-billion-piece DNA sequence
Only 3% of the genome seems to contain genes, the rest is seemingly useless "junk" DNA. Scientists are not even sure how many genes there are. Estimates vary from 34,000 to 120,000. And they do not have a clue of what most of the genes do, or what turns them on and off.
The revolution -- and revelation -- will be in the way the genetic information is interpreted and put to work. As Dr. Marco Marro, associate director of the Genome Sequence Centre in Vancouver recently told the National Post: "It's the beginning, not the end."
Leading the multi-billion-dollar hunt for genetic treasure are U.S. companies like Celera Genomics Corp. and Human Genome Sciences Inc., which have filed for patents on thousands of genes they have found in the human genome. Others, like Affymetrix Inc., have devised "DNA chips" to figure out what different genes do and home in on the proteins they produce. Eventually, the genetic wizards hope to be able to take an individual's blood or skin sample, scan the genome inside the cells and say whether the person is prone to anything from baldness to liver cancer. Some envisage the day when people will carry their gene profiles around on data cards in their wallets and pull them out whenever they see the doctor or need a medication.
"Ten years from now, most of the approaches for addressing disease will be as a result of the increased genetic knowledge of what causes disease in the first place," said Brian Harling, vice-president of corporate affairs for MDS Laboratory Services, which is trying to become Canadians' gateway to the brave new world of genetic testing.
"Our ability to target medications and target procedures based on your particular genetic structure will increase rapidly. I think it's fair to say that the equivalent of the next Microsoft is going to come out of genetics, genomics and biotechnology. It's going to be the engine for economic growth."
Tests based on the new knowledge about the genome are increasing. There are paternity tests to prove who fathered which children. Forensic DNA tests to link killers with their victims. There are even tests that can inspect genes inside human embryos to ensure they are disease-free before they are implanted. And there are tests for genes that have been associated with dozens of different diseases. They are available from many labs and clinics, most of them in the United States.
MDS, which has medical laboratories across Canada, is hoping to corner much of the Canadian market. It introduced its first "predictive genetic" test in March -- the $3,850 breast-cancer test. A blood sample is all it takes to figure out whether an individual carries the mutated genes that have been linked to the dread disease.
The second such test, one that can determine which people carry genetic mutations linked to colon cancer, is expected to be available by the end of the year, Mr. Harling said, explaining how MDS licenses the tests from companies that developed and patented them.
Several fertility clinics around the world, including IVF Canada in Toronto, offer the $7,000 scan of the genes of an unborn child. And the Institute of Medical Molecular Diagnostics Ltd. of Germany, and several other U.S. labs, can determine, for about $200 a test, whether you have flawed genes associated with muscular dystrophy, osteoporosis or Alzheimer's disease.
There has been much controversy about the gold-rush mentality that has seen companies like Celera race to patent every human gene they find.
"It's like trying to patent the rainbow," Dutch scientist Gert-Jan Van Ommen, of Leiden University told a recent international conference where the practice was denounced. In response, the U.S. patent office is taking steps to ensure that companies actually know what human genes do before their patent applications are considered, which should help speed the identification and application of valuable genes.
In Canada, the problem is more with the government's poky approach to patenting, Mr. Harling said. A Canadian patent is still pending on the breast-cancer test, which was developed by Myriad Genetics Inc. in Utah. The company has already had patents issued in the United States, Japan and Europe. Without patent protection here, he said there is nothing to deter other Canadian labs from testing for the breast-cancer genes, as is the case in some provinces.
But Mr. Harling said the biggest challenge is the lack of effective Canadian government policy for dealing with the emerging genetic tests and services.
"The government needs to figure out what they are going to do, and how they are going to do it." Mr. Harling is a member of the advisory committee of Genome Canada, which recently received $160-million from the federal government to set up genome research centres across Canada.
He says he would like to see some sort of national body to assess new genetic tests and services, set protocols for their best use, and pass the information on to the provinces which pay for medical care.
"At this stage there isn't anybody in Ottawa that could provide the kind of guidance that the provinces would even consider listening to," says Mr. Harling.
As a result, getting medical coverage for predictive genetic tests in Canada can be a bureaucratic nightmare. Women who need and want the test for breast cancer, he says, often get tangled up in all kinds of red tape.
"It's a bit of a dog's breakfast," says Mr. Harling, of the different provincial approaches for dealing with the test. |
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