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The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has reached a landmark agreement that prevents gene patents from getting in the way of public health care.

The deal with the company that holds patents on genes related to the potentially deadly Long QT syndrome will act as a template that can be used by health care providers around the world for those and other gene patents, CHEO and legal officials said Wednesday.

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“Today is a great day for a very important principle that Canadians deserve access to their own genetic information,” said hospital CEO Alex Munter. “Gene patents no longer need to stand in the way of diagnosing life threatening disease.”

The hospital says it will leave the question of who owns human DNA for another day. The agreement with the patent holder Transgenomic, said Munter, will act immediately to knock down barriers to health care delivery and clinical research.

It also “opens a whole new way that Canada can lead the world in making sure patents on genes do not present an obstacle to care and research.”