Aggregated News
Today the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others file legal documents challenging patents on DNA.
The ACLU briefs detail their case against seven patents held by Myriad Genetics, a diagnostics company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, regarding two genes associated with a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
On 20 July, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation will argue the case in front of a judge at the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, on behalf of patients, investigators and doctors.
It’s a flashback to 2011, when Myriad won this battle. The case was revived in March when the Supreme Court ruled that patents on a blood test from the California-based diagnostics company Prometheus Laboratories were invalid because they simply reflected ‘a law of nature.’ Specifically, the test measures components in a person’s blood to determine correct drug dosing.
The ruling against Prometheus’ patents “reinvigorated our concern that there are too many patents on natural phenomenon,” says Sandra Park, an ACLU attorney representing the plaintiffs. “That’s what we’ve been arguing all...
The ACLU briefs detail their case against seven patents held by Myriad Genetics, a diagnostics company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, regarding two genes associated with a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
On 20 July, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation will argue the case in front of a judge at the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, on behalf of patients, investigators and doctors.
It’s a flashback to 2011, when Myriad won this battle. The case was revived in March when the Supreme Court ruled that patents on a blood test from the California-based diagnostics company Prometheus Laboratories were invalid because they simply reflected ‘a law of nature.’ Specifically, the test measures components in a person’s blood to determine correct drug dosing.
The ruling against Prometheus’ patents “reinvigorated our concern that there are too many patents on natural phenomenon,” says Sandra Park, an ACLU attorney representing the plaintiffs. “That’s what we’ve been arguing all...