Gene patenting and licensing: the role of academic researchers and advocacy groups

Patient and interest organizations' views on personalized medicine: a qualitative study

Background

Personalized medicine (PM) aims to tailor disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to individuals on the basis of their genes, lifestyle and environments. Patient and interest organizations (PIOs) may potentially play an important role in the realization of PM. This paper investigates the views and perspectives on PM of a variety of PIOs.

Methods

Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted among leading representatives of 13 PIOs located in Europe and North-America. The data collected were analysed using a conventional content analysis approach.

Results

The PIO representatives supported the realization of PM but feared that many financial, structural and organizational challenges may delay its realization. They encouraged strategies to modernize drug licencing mechanisms, develop research and data sharing infrastructures, and educate patients and health care professionals in PM. Notably, they emphasized the importance of developing PM in an equitable way and taking into consideration the patients’ needs, values and personal situation. Despite varying levels of awareness regarding PM, the PIO representatives expressed willingness to engage in the PM agenda and recommended that PIOs work closely with policy-makers to design PM in a way that truly addresses the needs and concerns of patients.

Conclusions

PIOs have the potential to become central drivers of the PM agenda. Collaborations should be further developed between PIOs, researchers, drug developers and health care authorities.

How disease advocacy organizations participate in clinical research: a survey of genetic organizations

PURPOSE

Disease advocacy organizations may assist in the conduct of research in a variety of ways. We sought to characterize how disease advocacy organizations participate in clinical research and perceive their contributions.

METHODS

Postal and electronic surveys administered to leaders of disease advocacy organizations for genetic conditions identified through the Genetic Alliance's Disease InfoSearch.

RESULTS

Of the 201 disease advocacy organizations approached, 124 (62%) responded. In the past 2 years, 91% of these organizations had assisted in participant recruitment, 75% collected data, 60% provided a researcher with financial support, and 56% assisted with study design. Forty-five percent of these organizations also supported a research registry or biobank. Few disease advocacy organization leaders (12%) reported regrets about research studies they had supported. Most (68%) felt their involvement in clinical research had increased the amount of research on their condition and that researchers should consult organizations like theirs in deciding how to recruit participants (58%) and in selecting research topics (56%).

CONCLUSION

In addition to providing financial support, disease advocacy organizations participate directly in multiple aspects of research, ranging from study design and patient recruitment to data collection and analysis. Leaders of these organizations feel strongly that scientists and research sponsors should engage them as partners in the conduct of clinical research.

The financing of clinical genetics research by disease advocacy organizations: A review of funding disclosures in biomedical journals

Anecdotal reports suggest that disease-advocacy groups (DAOs) participate in multiple aspects of clinical research. No systemic analysis of the extent of DAO involvement in clinical genetics research has been conducted to date. We conducted a systematic review of journal articles published in 2004 and 2005 reporting clinical research on 50 genetic diseases to assess the extent to which DAOs financed the studies reported, assisted in subject recruitment, or participated in other aspects of research. Of 513 articles, 350 (68%) included a statement regarding research support. Of these articles, 114 (33%) acknowledged DAO funding. The proportion of articles reporting financial support from a DAO varied greatly by disease. Articles reporting financial support from a DAO often identified at least one additional source of support (73%). Of the articles examined, 19 (4%) acknowledged DAO assistance with subject recruitment and 11 (2%) included an author affiliated with a DAO. DAOs provide financial support for numerous clinical research studies in genetics, often in partnership with government agencies and for-profit corporations. DAOs also participate in other aspects of clinical research, including subject recruitment. Future studies should seek to characterize these research partnerships more fully.

Gene patents: perspectives from the clinical laboratory

Patents involving human genes, human genetic material, and genotype-phenotype correlations are a reality and are increasingly having a negative effect on the clinical molecular diagnostic laboratory and on patient care. Specifically, gene patents and exclusive licensing of diagnostic testing has a detrimental effect on the quality of laboratory testing, the cost of testing, turnaround time, coordination of care, patient access to testing and the ability to confirm testing at a separate laboratory. In this article, gene patents are discussed from the perspective of a medical director of a molecular diagnostics laboratory, and the effect of such patents on clinical laboratory practice is examined.

Issues in genetic testing for ultra-rare diseases: background and introduction

Since 1994, at least three national advisory committees have addressed issues involving access to high-quality genetic testing for ultra-rare genetic diseases. These included the Institute of Medicine (1994), a National Institutes of Health-Department of Energy Task Force on Genetic Testing (1997), and the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (2000). All identified the limited availability of high-quality testing for these rare diseases as a very high priority and a number of recommendations to improve access were made. However, little systematic progress was made as a direct result of these committee recommendations. Beginning in 2004, a series of national workshops on "Quality Laboratory Testing for Rare Diseases" was organized by a group of clinical laboratory directors experienced in rare disease testing working with the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of Rare Diseases at National Institutes of Health. These meetings included broad-based community involvement, with stakeholders from appropriate federal agencies, professional societies, patient advocacy groups as well as clinical geneticists and clinical genetics laboratory experts. Two successful outcomes of these workshops were the formation of a National Laboratory Network for Rare Disease Testing and a National Institutes of Health-funded program to aid in the translation of new genetic tests from research laboratories to Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified diagnostic laboratories known as the Collaboration and Education in Test Translation program. This article briefly reviews the history and current status of genetic testing for ultra-rare genetic diseases in the United States, with a primary focus on molecular genetic testing by DNA sequencing. Other articles in this series provide more detailed reports on the significant progress in improving access to quality genetic testing for rare diseases within the last few years.