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In 1998, Penn geneticists Arupa Ganguly and Haig Kazazian were ordered to stop offering women a test for genetic mutations that carry a dire risk of breast cancer.
Myriad Genetics Inc. accused the researchers of patent infringement and threatened them with a lawsuit. They weren't even using a test patented by Myriad. Ganguly had pioneered a new way to read these genes and devised her own test.
But Myriad held a patent on the genes themselves.
Now both University of Pennsylvania scientists have been pulled into a lawsuit that could not only strip Myriad of its patents but end the 30-year-old practice of patenting human genes.
The lawsuit was filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union along with several medical associations and breast cancer activists.
The ACLU won the first round in March when federal Judge Robert Sweet ruled that Myriad's patents on genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2 were improperly granted. Myriad lawyer Richard Marsh said they filed for appeal on Wednesday. The case now looks likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
A decision could invalidate...
Myriad Genetics Inc. accused the researchers of patent infringement and threatened them with a lawsuit. They weren't even using a test patented by Myriad. Ganguly had pioneered a new way to read these genes and devised her own test.
But Myriad held a patent on the genes themselves.
Now both University of Pennsylvania scientists have been pulled into a lawsuit that could not only strip Myriad of its patents but end the 30-year-old practice of patenting human genes.
The lawsuit was filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union along with several medical associations and breast cancer activists.
The ACLU won the first round in March when federal Judge Robert Sweet ruled that Myriad's patents on genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2 were improperly granted. Myriad lawyer Richard Marsh said they filed for appeal on Wednesday. The case now looks likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
A decision could invalidate...