DNA purificationWIKIMEDIA, MIKE MITCHELL FOR THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTEIt’s been nearly a week since the US Supreme Court invalidated Myriad Genetics’ patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and the response from bioethicists, patient advocates, and the research community has been nearly uniformly positive.
“VICTORY! Supreme Court decides: Our genes belong to us, not companies,” declared the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who with the Public Patent Foundation filed the suit.
Mary-Claire King, the pioneer who first established the genetic basis of familial breast cancer and pinpointed the BRCA1 gene in 1990, told the New Scientist two days following the ruling, “I am delighted. This is a fabulous result for patients, physicians, scientists, and common sense.”
The Court’s unanimous decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., held that, “A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated.” Specifically, that invalidates some (but not all) patent claims held by Salt Lake City firm Myriad Genetics, which ...
