A human gene can be patented in the US, and companies like Myriad Genetics once held exclusive rights to BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing. I find that arrangement hard to defend: a gene is a discovery about nature, not an invention, and the monopoly let Myriad charge over $3,000 per test while labs that found cheaper methods couldn't offer them. Still, I get the counterargument — without patent protection, who funds the decades of research that map these mutations in the first place? Does gene patenting do more harm than good for patients?