The US Supreme Court unanimously decided on June 13, 2013that human genes
cannot be patented, in a landmark decision that is seen as a major win
for researchers and patients, who argued that allowing such patents
impedes research and harms patients’ ability to know the disease risks
that lurk in their DNA.
In the case, the Association for Molecular
Pathology, a group representing professionals involved in laboratory
testing, as well as scientists and patients, challenged the patents that
Utah-based biotechnology company Myriad Genetics holds on breast cancer
risk genes. Those genes have recently been catapulted into the national
spotlight by actress Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she had her
breasts removed after discovering she had a high genetic risk of
developing breast cancer.
“A naturally occurring DNA segment is a
product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been
isolated,” justice Clarence Thomas wrote on behalf of the court, which
struck down five of Myriad’s claims for patent protection. The court
decided that synthetically-generated strands of DNA, called cDNA,
however, are eligible for patent protection.
“Myriad did not create or alter either the
genetic information encoded in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes or the genetic
structure of the DNA,” Thomas wrote. “It found an important and useful
gene, but groundbreaking, innovative, or even brilliant discovery does
not by itself” make the work patent eligible.
Myriad Genetics holds patents on gene
sequences related to risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Patents are
awarded for inventions and new ways of making things, and Myriad argued
that pinpointing the location of mutated genes that caused increased
cancer risk, and isolating and sequencing those genes amounted to
information that could be eligible for patent protection. The Court
disagreed, and the ruling invalidated five claims the company had made
in patents. But it also upheld the patent eligibility of cDNA, which is
synthesized by scientists.
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