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Gene patenting -- steep cost for health care and patients

The drug trastuzumab (Herceptin) is used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer (a type of breast cancer that overexpresses the HER2 gene and accounts for about 25 percent of all breast cancers). Trastuzumab therapy improves the chances of survival; however, it has deleterious side effects and is expensive. Thus, it is important to accurately determine the patient's HER2 status.

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Keywords: gene, patenting, steep, cost, health, care, patients, patient

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