[sudo-discuss] Myriad Genetics -- No Patent For You

[Felicia Betancourt]

You mean, common sense prevailed at SCOTUS?  What next, no patents for
Monsanto???  If only...


On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 8:03 AM, Eddan Katz <eddan at clear.net> wrote:

> The Supreme Court opinion on the Myriad Genetics case about the BRCA1 &
> BRCA2 patents is out. Great news for science and medicine. Opinion was 9-0,
> invalidating the patent Myriad used to exercise a monopoly over breast
> cancer diagnostic tests.
>
>
> http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-398_8njq.pdf
>
> Held:  "A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature andnot
> patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA ispatent
> eligible because it is not naturally occurring."
>
>
> From the introductory summary --
>
> Each human gene is encoded as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which takes the
> shape of a “double helix.” Each “cross-bar” in that helix consists of two
> chemically joined nucleotides. Sequences of DNA nu- cleotides contain the
> information necessary to create strings of amino acids used to build
> proteins in the body. The nucleotides that code for amino acids are
> “exons,” and those that do not are “introns.” Sci- entists can extract DNA
> from cells to isolate specific segments for study. They can also
> synthetically create exons-only strands of nu- cleotides known as composite
> DNA (cDNA). cDNA contains only the exons that occur in DNA, omitting the
> intervening introns.
>
> Respondent Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), obtained several patents after
> discovering the precise location and sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes,
> mutations of which can dramatically in- crease the risk of breast and
> ovarian cancer. This knowledge allowed Myriad to determine the genes’
> typical nucleotide sequence, which, in turn, enabled it to develop medical
> tests useful for detecting muta- tions in these genes in a particular
> patient to assess the patient’s cancer risk. If valid, Myriad’s patents
> would give it the exclusive right to isolate an individual’s BRCA1 and
> BRCA2 genes, and would give Myriad the exclusive right to synthetically
> create BRCA cDNA. Petitioners filed suit, seeking a declaration that
> Myriad’s patents are invalid under 35 U. S. C. §101. As relevant here, the
> District Court granted summary judgment to petitioners, concluding that
> Myriad’s claims were invalid because they covered products of nature. The
> Federal Circuit initially reversed, but on remand in light of Mayo
> Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U. S. ___,
> the Circuit found both isolated DNA and cDNA patent eligible.
>
>
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